Teach us to Pray Part 2

Our Father Hallowed be thy name.

Last week we began a study on the Lord’s Prayer called “Teach us to pray!” 

We discovered that this is the prayer that contains it all;

everything you need to pray for

everything that is going on in your life,

in the life of your family,

and in the life of the world. 

I hope you have all practiced praying The Lord’s Prayer this week, and I hope you continue to pray the Lord’s Prayer throughout this series.  It is a very comforting and calming prayer to pray, and I hope you make it a part of prayer life—a thoughtful part of your prayer life.  And if you don’t have a daily prayer life…well here is a good place to start.

In the next few weeks we are going to dissect this prayer and look at each phrase to really understand what they really mean.  The Lord’s Prayer is much more than just a prayer to recite, but it is a prayer model that Jesus used to “teach us to pray.”

So let’s begin this morning by praying the prayer together,

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

 And forgive us our trespassers, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Today we are going to focus on the first phrase in this prayer, “Our father who art in Heaven.”

PRAY

Let me begin by laying out three basic principles that we find just in that first phrase;

First Principle; We Do Not Pray Alone

The Lord’s Prayer begins with a simple statement about who God is. Jesus invites us to say “Our Father” when we pray, and the key to understanding the Lord’s Prayer is first understanding what that phrase really means.

First of all, when you say, “Our Father in heaven,”

you are admitting that you do not pray alone. The Lord’s Prayer is not a “private” prayer; the words “I” and “me” are nowhere to be found in it.  In this prayer, you are admitting that you are not the only one in the world who has a concern to bring to God. To begin with the word “our,” means that you are in a fellowship, and a community of God’s children.  

When you pray “Our Father,” you are confessing that your problems are not the only problems in the world. You are admitting that there are millions of people around the world who have concerns just as great as yours. To pray like this imparts a bigness and expansiveness to your prayer.  And you are also confessing that “Our Father” is big enough and powerful enough to meet all these needs.

When we pray “Our Father” as a congregation, we cease to be individuals coming to church with our own particular burdens. Instead, we become part of a family with a common heritage and with shared values. And this family of brothers and sisters has been made possible by the new birth we have experienced in the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ for our redemption.

This also reminds us that those of us who are in Christ are all brothers and sisters who all pray to the same “father.”  God is not your secret weapon, but he is all “our father,” and he cares about all our needs equally.  You are not his favorite, but we are all equally loved by Him. 

Remember that fact in your dealings with one another. 

When you slander one another,

when you talk behind their back,

when you attack,

when you ignore their needs…

you are doing these things to one of God’s blessed children.  God doesn’t like it when His children are at odds with one another.

Second Principle; God is Our Father

This leads us to a crucial theological point; the first step in prayer is to learn to call God “Father."  In a true biblical sense, the only people who can call Him by this endearment are those who are the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  I know it is popular today to say “We’re all God’s children,” but in contrast to those who would apply the Lord’s Prayer to everyone, even to non-Christians, we must declare that this is a prayer only true Christians can pray.  Non-Christians cannot say “Our Father,” because He is not their father.  The Bible makes that distinction very clear.   

This is a Christian prayer based on a Christian truth, and it is intended for those who have been born into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ.

Charles Spurgeon notes that it is not a general prayer intended for the masses, but is instead a prayer for the true disciples of Christ, those who have been converted by the saving grace of God.

When you call God “Father,” you are saying there is One in heaven who hears,

There is One in Heaven who knows,

There is One in Heaven who understands and cares.

Whatever a good father on earth would do for his children, that’s what God in heaven will do for his children (and much more).  We cannot even compare God to an earthly father, because earthly fathers are humans who make mistakes.  Even those of us who are father who try to do our best, we realize that we fall short. 

God doesn’t try to do His best as a father, He IS the best father. 

He is the perfect model of fatherhood.

Sons and daughters have family rights that guarantee them access to their father; that’s a big part of what being a father is all about.

My children don’t need an appointment to see me, and I don’t need an appointment to see my Heavenly Father either.

Even in the midst of running the entire universe, keeping the stars in their courses, making sure the planets don’t run into each other, and while he oversees six billion people with all their troubles, cares, worries, fears, problems, and difficulties, our God still has time for us. He listens to us as if He had no one else to listen to.

Third Principle; He is our father from Heaven

Third, we pray to our Father who is “in heaven“. That’s usually a throwaway line for most of us. We tend to think it means that earth is where we are, and heaven is where God is, which we imagine is beyond the farthest star. That’s not what it means. The phrase “in heaven” refers to heaven as the center of the universe and the seat of all authority, power, dominion and greatness.

You are here on earth, and are therefore limited to this little ball of dirt floating around the sun in a little corner of a big galaxy called the Milky Way. And that galaxy is just one of millions of galaxies in a universe so huge that we cannot accurately measure it. To say that we are “on earth” means that we pray from a position of weakness and insignificance.

God, however, is in the seat of all authority and all power.

Therefore, when you say, “Our father in heaven,” you are proclaiming that He has the authority and power to hear you and to help you when you pray. It is precisely because God is in heaven that he has the power to help you.

Think of these 3 principles this way:

Our - speaks of Community. Father - speaks of Family. In heaven - speaks of Authority.

Or to say it another way:

Our means I do not pray alone.

Father means I am not left alone.

In heaven means I do not struggle alone.

Or from a third perspective:

Our means I pray with others. Father means I pray to One who cares for me.

In heaven means I pray to one who has the power to help me.

Every single word is important. Every single word is crucial.

“Our“ opens you up to a big view of the universe.

“Father“ encourages you to believe that he cares.

“In heaven“ means that you don’t have a problem that he can’t handle. You don’t have a need in your life that he can’t meet, because he’s a father in heaven who hears and answers prayer.

“Our Father who art in Heaven...”

A New Way of Looking At God

Without a doubt, the central word in this phrase is Father. A quick glance at a concordance reveals that the name “Father” is applied to God very infrequently in the Old Testament, and never by a person referring to God as “my Father.” It always refers to God as the Father of the nation of Israel, but never in the personal form of father and son.

When we come to the New Testament, we discover that Jesus called God “Father” more than 60 times, and then encourages us to also call God father. Why this enormous difference? because the revelation of God as our personal Father is based on the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.  The Bible says that we become “joint heirs” with Jesus, and it also says that we have been given the spirit of adoption by which we can cry “Abba Father.” 

The word “father” in the Bible means three basic things.

· First, it refers to a source or paternity or origin. God is the source of all that you have. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Everything comes from Him, it is made by Him, and it will return to Him.  Or as the Scripture says in Acts 17:25, “In him we live and move and have our being.” When you call God “Father,” you declare that your ultimate origin rests with him.

· Second, the word Father speaks of parental authority. He is God and you are not. He is running the show and you are not. He is a father; you are his child. We must not use the fact of God’s love as an excuse to reject his right to rule over us.

Because he is our Father “in heaven,” he has the right to do as he pleases even if his ways do not always make sense to us. Tom Wells wrote “He may send us pain and circumstances that frustrate us. We must not act like spoiled children when this occurs.”  He is our father; He loves us, He cares for us, and He has our best interest at heart.  We should affirm our confidence in his goodness toward us.  We must trust Him.

· Third, when you call God “Father,” you confess that he is a God of tender loving care. God’s love to His children is loyal and faithful.  It is the love that keeps on loving no matter what we do, how badly we blow it, or how many dumb mistakes we make. He is a God who never lets His children go. He loves us with an everlasting love that is faithful and loyal no matter what happens.

o When we were far away, he loved us.

o When we turned our back on him, he loved us.

o When we broke his law, he loved us.

o When we went our own way, he loved us.

o When we said, “Leave us alone, we don’t want you around anymore,” he said, “I’m going to stay around anyway.”

o And when we ran, he followed.

o When we hid, he found us.

o When we cursed him to his face, he just smiled and said, “I love you anyway.”

That’s what loyal love is all about. That’s the Father’s love for his children. He is always near us whether we see Him, feel Him, or even whether we believe He is there or not.

o He calms our fears.

o He cheers us on.

o He provides what we really need

o He lets us go our own way.

o He welcomes us back when we run.

A Biblical View of Father and Son

Jesus told a story in Luke 15:11-32 that beautifully illustrates the relationship between us and God. We call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s all about a young man who made a foolish decision and what happened to him as a result.

The story begins with a younger son who decides that he wants to leave his father’s house and go out and make his own way in the world.  He demands his inheritance from his father who agrees to give it to him, he takes his money and journeys to a place the Bible calls “the far country.” There he spends every dime he has on riotous living; he parties day and night, he has women on both arms, he lives the so-called good life, living in the fast lane. Whatever he wants, he buys.  He literally wastes everything he has, because eventually the money runs out.

When a famine comes, not having any money and being too far away from home, he attaches himself to a farmer who says, “the only work I have available is feeding my pigs.” The prodigal son ends up penniless, homeless, starving, feeding the pigs, and even eating with the pigs.  In the end he lost everything. He was at the lowest point he could possibly go. He hit rock bottom, and that’s when his life finally began to change.

o First, he came to his senses and realized what a fool he had been.

o Second, he decided to return to his father.

o Third, he mentally rehearsed how he would confess his sin to his father.

o Fourth, he got up from the pigpen and started the long journey home.

As he shuffled along the road, one question went through his mind: “What is my father going to say? Will he take me back? Will he forgive me?  Will he give me another chance?” With his head down, he walked along that dirt road, embarrassed and humiliated.

 We don’t often think about the father’s pain when we read this story, but it couldn’t have been easy for him. First, he lost part of the fortune he had worked so long to build. Second, he lost his reputation in the community. When a son leaves home in such anger, there’s no way to keep it hidden. The older brother knew, the hired men knew, soon enough the friends and neighbors would also know.

Every time the father went into town, people talked about it behind his back. Dysfunctional families make good gossip for idle minds. They talked about what had happened, they analyzed the problems, perhaps some of the younger men took the son’s side. No doubt the older men sided with the father. Meanwhile, the father knows all about the talk, hears the whispers, and through it all, silently struggles to keep his dignity.

But the worst pain was the simple fact that the father had lost his son. After all those years, after all those prayers, after holding him in his arms, after teaching him how to hunt and fish, after pouring out an ocean of love, suddenly the dream is shattered, and the father is left with a huge hole in his heart. Words cannot express the pain, the sadness, the loss the father feels. His son has left home, and no one can console him. After all that, could anyone blame the father if he refused to take his son back? Or if he did accept him, what conditions should he put in place? 

The Bible says that while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him. This is a great moment. His father sees him first. His father saw him and was moved with compassion.

Day after day the father watched for his son. Night after night he waited for his return. Nothing deterred him; not the weather, not the jeers and jokes of the skeptics, and not the doubting looks of his friends. Deep in his heart, he knew his son would someday come back home.

Then it happened. One day, late in the afternoon, when the sun was beating down and sweat covered his face, he saw a figure slowly come over the rise and begin to walk hesitantly toward him. Throwing all dignity aside, he ran to meet his son, embraced him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. In that one moment all questions were answered. The son’s fear melted away in the tears and hugs of his father.  His father remained faithful even when he did not.

And the next part of the story is the part we cling to, believe in, hope in, and stake our lives upon.  There are five signs of the father’s welcome:

1. The father kissed His son.   This is the sign of forgiveness.

2. The father placed a robe on His son.  This is the sign of honor.

3. The father placed a ring on His son’s hand.  This is the sign of authority.

4. The father put sandals on His son’s feet.  This is the sign of freedom.

5. The father proclaimed and had a feast.  This is the sign of a joyful welcome and

complete restoration.

The Bible says “they began to celebrate." A party begins that lasts for hours, and the lost son is the guest of honor and reason for celebration.

· It was the father’s love that never gave up hope. 

· It was the father’s love that remained loyal. 

· It was the father’s love that embraced a wayward son without hesitation. 

This is what it means to have a Heavenly Father who loves and cares for you.  Only He can love us like that. 

You’ve never done anything that could make God stop loving you.

“But you don’t know what I’ve done.” That’s all right. God knows, and he loves you anyway. You’ve never even imagined anything that could make God stop loving you.

o “I’m far away from God.” He still loves you.

o “I’ve sinned.” He still loves you.

o “You don’t understand.” I don’t have to understand. He knows and he loves you anyway.

o “I don’t care. I’m going to go my way.” It doesn’t matter. He still loves you.

And when you’re ready, he’ll be ready. When you turn around, and you will, he’ll be standing at the door to welcome you back. That’s the mighty love of God. That’s the love of a God who is called Father.

Is There Anyone Up There Who Cares For Me?

The Lord’s Prayer answers the greatest question of the universe;

o Is there anybody up there who cares about me?

o Is there anybody up there who watches over me?

o Is there anybody up there who knows my name?

And the answer comes back-Yes. Yes. Yes.

There is a God in heaven who cares about you. And he is called Father

This prayer is the answer to the deepest problem of mankind; the problem of fatherlessness. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that if we know Jesus Christ, we are not orphans in the universe, but we have a father—a father who is in Heaven—a father who sits on the throne.

Father to the Fatherless

In this phrase “Our father,” God is exploding all the stereotypes.  God is a personal God.  God is a person not a power.  He is a Father, not a force.  This is really good news when you understand it.  I can’t relate to some impersonal force. I can’t relate to some disembodied spirit of the sky. But I can relate to a personality.  I can get to know him.  I can connect with Him.  I can have a relationship with God as my Father.

There’s only one problem; for many people the word “father” is a negative term.  For many people the word “father” brings up all kinds of bad memories, bad connotations, hurts, difficulties, problems, and experiences; deep father wounds.  A lot of people say, “Our Father, who art in heaven? if God is anything like my father, then no thanks.”  For a lot of people their only idea of father is “You just wait until your father gets home!” and they think of God in that same way.

The truth is some human fathers can make home a hell on earth.  Human fathers can be fickle, they can be moody, they can be abusive, they can be domineering, controlling, angry, demanding, selfish, self centered, vicious, violent and aloof.  So when we say “our Father in heaven,” a lot of times we carry baggage in with that word.  In fact, it could be that your biggest problem with God is not a problem with God, but it’s a problem with your father.  You have taken a lot of the baggage from growing up and you have unconsciously applied them to God.  It’s no wonder you have a difficult time getting to know him.  The reason why many people never connect with God, is because they unconsciously think God is like their earthly father.  But He is not our father who art in Earth, but He is our father who are in Heaven. 

For instance, if you grew up with an unreasonable father you’re going to tend to think God is unreasonable.  Not consciously but unconsciously.  You’re going to tend to think that God’s demands are unreasonable, unmeetable, unattainable.  You’re going to think, “why even try?  I’m just going to give up.  God is an unreasonable father who wants to make my life miserable.  His demands are just not valid.”

On the other hand if you grew up with an unreliable father you’re going to have a hard time trusting God.  In fact, if you grew up with an unreliable father you are naturally predisposed to worry.  You tend to worry more than other people, because you don’t think people can be trusted.  You grew up with a father who made promises and broke them.  You grew up with a father who said, “I’ll do this,” and then didn’t do it.  So you tend to think God can’t be trusted, and God can’t be depended on.  God won’t keep his promises.   

If you grew up with an unconcerned father – he was there but he was just distant – you’re going to tend to think of God the same way.  “I believe in God.  He’s just not involved in my life.  He’s distant.  He’s cold.  He’s uninvolved.  He’s too busy to bother with me.  And I don’t want to bother him because I remember what it was like to bother my dad.”

If you grew up with an unpleasable father; that no matter what you did it was just never good enough, or no matter how much you achieved it always fell short. Then you’re going to tend to think God is that way.  You’re going to feel that God is upset with you all the time.  Do you want to be around somebody who’s upset with you all the time?  No.  You avoid them.  So you avoid God.  And you want to walk away.  And if you grew up with an unpleaseable father, you tend to carry around a lot of unnecessary guilt—and that becomes an issue in your relationship with God and understanding God.    

In America, here is what’s been going on in our culture;

o 25% of all white children are growing up without the presence of their father in the home.

o 50% of all Hispanic kids re growing up without the presence of their father in the home. 

o 75% percent of all African-American kids are growing up without the presence of their father in the home.

It’s no wonder we don’t understand God.  It’s no wonder we don’t get what it’s like to say “Our Father, who art in heaven.” because so many people don’t have that kind of connection.  Many kids growing up today have very little connection to their father, so why would they be expected to have a connection with their heavenly Father? 

Dr. Paul ­­Vitz, a professor and psychologist at New York University (and former atheist) wrote a book called The Faith of the Fatherless.  In it he did a study of all of the famous atheists throughout history; people like Sigmund Freud, Carl Marx, and Bertrand Russell.  The only thing that he could find that all these famous atheist had in common is; they all hated their fathers.  They did not have a positive connection to their father, and he concludes that this helped lead them to their disbelief in God. 

To use a very modern phrase, we are left with a kind of “Father Hunger.” That’s a phrase used to describe children growing up in a family without a strong and compassionate father figure. He may have died or he may have abandoned his family. Or perhaps he was so busy that he had no time for his family. But because he barely knows his children, they compete desperately for little scraps of his love and approval. Children growing up in a home like that desperately want a father, and sometimes they will look for someone (or something) to fill that void.

On a much larger scale that’s the story of all humanity. We were made to know God and we want to know him, but our sin has separated us from God. As a result, we are left with a deep “Father hunger” that won’t go away.  Some people become so desperate that they turn to alcohol and drugs to fill the aching void within. Others float from one failed relationship to another. And some people bury themselves in their work in the hope that climbing to the top of the corporate heap will quell the little voice within that says, “There must be something more.” In the end, a few tortured souls take their own lives because they discover that nothing in this life satisfies for very long.

But there is Good news! In Jesus Christ we have discovered the greatest news of all-that our God is not some impersonal deity, not fate or chance or some mechanical karma, not something mystical, not a God who’s so far off he doesn’t care. In Jesus Christ we’ve discovered the most important truth of the universe; Our God is a father.He loves you so much that he did something we would never think of doing; He gave his own Son to die for you. He loves you inconceivably because he did the inconceivable; He gave his Son for you, proving that he is a Father who truly loves his children.

What is God really like?  What kind of father is God?

1.  He is a caring Father.  

He is a caring, loving, compassionate father.  God loves you more than you will ever know.  He loves you more than you will ever understand.  He loves you more than you can ever comprehend

Psalm 103:13 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who honor him.”

1 Peter 5 “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”

· Does God care about your house payment?  Yes.

· Does he care about your grades if you’re going to school?  Yes. 

· Does he care about the sales you need to make this month?  Yes. 

· Does he care about your health?  Yes. 

· Does he care about your dating life?  Yes. 

· Does he care if your face breaks out?  Yes. 

· Does he care if you get an upset stomach and have gas?  Yes. 

Cast all your anxiety on Him.  Cast all your cares on Him.  Why?  because He cares. 

2.  He is a consistent Father.

That’s really important.  Especially when everything’s changing around us.  He is a consistent Father.  He will never let you down.  He can be counted on.  He is dependable.  He is reliable.  He is worthy of trust.

God is not moody. He has never had a bad day.  He doesn’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed.  He doesn’t wake up grumpy or grouchy.  He is a consistent Father.   One of the things you can count on is that God always acts the same toward you. 2 Timothy says, “Even if we are faithless he remains faithful.  God says in his word, Malachi 3:6 “I, the Lord, do not change.”  He’s the only thing that doesn’t change.  Culture changes, opinion changes, science changes.  God doesn’t change.

3.  He is a close Father.  

He’s close.  He’s not distant.  He’s not far away.  He’s as close as your next heartbeat.  He’s right there with you every moment.  God is with you right now.  He’s not a million miles away.  It might feel like he’s a million miles away sometimes…I’ve felt like that before, but your feelings and reality don’t always match.  The truth is that God is right here right now.  He’s a close Father.  He is there when you need Him.  You don’t have to go in search of Him, He is right there.    

4.  He is a competent Father.  

That’s really important when you’re facing big problems.  He is a competent Father.  He can handle any problem you give him.  Nothing is beyond his ability.  Nothing is too hard for him.  Nothing is beyond his resources.  No request is too big or too small.  The Bible says this “God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers and desires and thoughts and hopes.” 

That is a picture of our Heavenly Father; He is caring, close, consistent, and competent.  This is who you pray to when you start off your prayers; “Our Father, who are in Heaven.”

Jesus made prayer simple, because in the end, we are simple people. If it were difficult, most of us would forget it or mess it up somehow. Yet these simple words are profound beyond our understanding. Everything God has for us, and everything that He is for us is wrapped in the word “Father." When we come to Him in Jesus’ name, we are not coming to an angry or impersonal God, but to a friendly Father. So don’t be afraid to talk to God. Your Father is waiting to hear from you.

All of us have earthly Fathers.  Some of them were great, and some of them were not so great.  Some of them did their best, and some of them didn’t even try.  But all of them left a mark on us.

Here is the thing about earthly father’s—they are human and they are flawed, and so through them we can get a flawed view of who God is when we call Him father.  For instance—I am very impatient.  Because of my impatience, do my children see God as an impatient father?

What I want to do today is pray that God will reveal himself to us as “Our Father who art in Heaven.”

God is a caring father. 

God is a close father. 

God is a competent father. 

God is a consistent father.

Whatever your needs are…cry out to your father.  Our father who art in Heaven.