Our Father

Introduction

Imagine if you were a baseball player and you had the privilege of Ken Griffey Jr., who is in the baseball hall of fame and won 10 gold gloves, teach you individually how to hit and field. . . or if you were a musician, and had the privilege of Beethoven teaching you how to read notes and play music. . . or if you were an singer, and you had the privilege of John Legend giving you personal lessons on how to sing?

Wouldn’t you pay attention to their instruction? Wouldn’t you sit on the edge of your seat, taking notes and studying and memorizing every word?

If this is the case, how much more so should we be on the edge of our seat tonight as we listen to the master teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, teach us how to pray?

Key Point: Tonight, Jesus is going to teach us that our prayers must start with God and his glory not ourselves.

Recap From Last Week-Matthew 6:5-8

First, Prayer is pouring out our hearts to God with praises, petitions, confession of sin, and thanksgiving.

Second, We should pray because it is the best way to praise God, he commands it, and it is his will for our lives.

Third, When we pray, we must remember to whom we are praying and seek the treasure of the Father’s pleasure in communion with him.

Fourth, Since God delights in us as his children through faith in Christ, we should delight in God through prayer.

The “Lord’s Prayer.”

After giving the ways the disciples should not pray, Jesus now tells them how they should pray. . . but Jesus is not saying that “you must pray these words.”

The Lord’s Prayer is not necessarily a rote prayer to recite, but a model and guide of how we should pray.

Let’s look at an overview of the model prayer briefly. This will be an outline of where we are going over the next few weeks as we study Jesus’ instructions on prayer.

“Our Father,” directs us to praise God for our relationship with him.

“In heaven, hallowed be your name” calls us to praise God for his holiness.

“Your Kingdom come, your will be done,” teaches us to ask for grace to live for his kingdom and not our own, praying his will would be done in our lives and the world.

“Give us this day,” shows us to ask for our needs and make petitions for ourselves and others.

“forgive us our debts”. . . instructs us to confess our sins to God and seek forgiveness in Christ. This phrase also calls us to forgive others.

“Lead us not into temptation”. . . leads us to intercede for ourselves and others to pursue holiness and not give into the lusts of the flesh.

“Yours is the Kingdom”. . . teaches us to end prayer with praise and a blessing.

So, the prayer provides a model, or you could say, a skeleton of the categories we should pray in and how our prayers should be structured. . . when we pray, we can then take this skeleton and put flesh on it with our own specific prayers.

As far as the structure of the prayer. . . the first three petitions focus on the glory of God (His Name, Kingdom, and Will) and the last three petitions relate to our salvation and needs.

Prayer should always be first about praising God and then second, requesting needs for ourselves and others.

Similar to the two divisions of the ten commandments.

So, Jesus begins his instructions on prayer by teaching us three things. . .

First, how to address God as Our Father,

Second, to praise him for his glorious dwelling in heaven,

And Third, to offer a petition that his name would be made holy in all things.

Matthew 6:9 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

1. “Our Father”

First, Jesus teaches us to begin our prayers by addressing God as “Father.”

Notice that He does not say “my Father,” but “our Father.”

Using The pronoun, “Our,” when addressing God as our Father signifies five truths:

Jesus taught his disciples that they should pray together.

Prayer should be a community event in the church. . . when we hear the word “prayer” we should think. . . “that is what I get to do with other believers on a consistent basis.”

Notice the communal language of “us” throughout the prayer.

The use of the pronoun “our” means the disciples can also call God their Father, which implies that they are his sons!

This statement alone would be wonderful. Father is an intimate term (Abba in aramaic).

This is not the modern day equivalent to “daddy,” but it does communicate a close familial relationship.

When we call God our Father, we recognize three things about ourselves:

First, We are his sons and daughters.

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Second, We are God’s heirs, which means we receive all of God’s inheritance and spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

Third, We have God’s Spirit. . .

Galatians 4:6 ESV

6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

And the Spirit helps us to pray when we don’t know what to say (Romans 8:26).

In short, we know ourselves through knowing God.

Consider how our relationship with God is completely different from all the other world religions, especially Islam.

Muslims would never dare to call Allah their Father.

They may say Allah treats them like a Father treats his children, but they would never directly address him as their Father.

In contrast, Christians can have an intimate relationship with the almighty creator!

Consider all the ways that God cares for us like a Father. . .

He protects us (Psalms 68:5; Deut. 1:31).

We are safe with him.

He has compassion on us (Psalms 103:13).

He provides and cares for us (Matt. 6:26).

He loves us as his children (1 John 3:1).

In Christ, we are enough and accepted.

He gives us good gifts (Matt. 7:8-11).

He delights in us (Zeph. 3:17; Psalms 149:4; Prov. 11:20; Isaiah 62:4).

He disciplines us for our good (Prov. 3:12; Hebrews 12:3-10).

When we confess God as our Father, we are also denouncing the world and sin as our Father.

Ephesians 2:1-3 and John 8:44 teach that when we are born into this world, we are children of wrath and of the devil, but now, through faith in Christ, We are now sons of God!

If we call God our Father, then we are his children. . . thus, we should act like his children

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Saying “our Father” also implies that as Christians, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, part of the same family, and should treat one another accordingly.

One Clarification: The name “Father” does not signify God has a gender or sexuality because God is spirit and he does not have a body.

However, we should not think we can substitute “Father” for “Mother.”

The Bible does describe God exhibiting motherly qualities, like a tender nursing mother (Isaiah 49:15), or a hen taking care of her young (Matthew 23:37).

Yet, throughout Scripture, the Bible describes God as a King, Husband, and Father. . . not as a Queen, Wife, or Mother.

Our culture today says it is politically incorrect to call God Father and not Mother, and some Methodist and Lutheran churches are calling God both Mother and Father.

But despite what our culture thinks, calling God Father has nothing to do with men being superior to woman. . . it is simply the way God has chosen to reveal himself through masculine pronouns and titles in the Scriptures.

So, we should begin each prayer acknowledging that God is our Father and thanking and praising him that we are his adopted children through faith in Christ.

Next, Jesus teaches us that we need to acknowledge that God is “in heaven.”

2. “In Heaven”

But. . . does this phrase mean that God is “up there” and we are “down here?”

Not exactly. . . Since God is spirit and is not confined by space, saying our Father is in heaven does not communicate God dwells in a different place, but rather on an entirely different plane (2 Chronicles 6:18: “Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you).

This statement demonstrates God’s holiness. Even though he is intimate with his creatures, he is also infinite.

Only one who is not bound by time and space can inhabit the heavens.

By saying God is in heaven, it reminds us that we are on completely different level than God, and highlights the vast differences between us and God.

God is holy, we are not.

God is infinite, we are finite.

God is the Creator, we are his creatures.

J.I. Packer says, “The vitality of prayer lies largely in the vision God prompts it. Drab thoughts of God make prayer dull.”

If praying is boring, it is likely that we have forgotten or don’t realize who we are praying to.

But here is something that we can’t forget. . . although God is in heaven and dwells in a “high and holy place,” he also dwells with those of a contrite and lowly spirit. . . to revive us and strengthen us! (Isaiah 57:15).

We cannot forget we are praying to the God of heaven. . . but this God of heaven is our loving Father!

So, in our prayers, we must make sure we have a right view of God, that he is both our Father who is intimate with us, but also He is in heaven and on an entirely different plane than us.

Lastly, at the end of verse 9, Jesus teaches us the first petition we should ask of God. . . that his name would be hallowed, or made holy in our lives.

3. “Hallowed be your name.”

Notice that the first request Jesus instructs us to offer to God is not a request for ourselves, but a request for God’s glory.

This first petition, to make God’s name holy, is first because it holds all the other requests together and puts them in focus and in the right ordering.

Imagine going to your parents with many requests, but before making these, you acknowledge how much you love and appreciate them. . . not to butter them up. . . but to demonstrate that your requests are made in the acknowledgement of your love and appreciation for your parents and helps them know you will submit to their decision, even if its not what you want.

When we ask God’s “Name” to be made holy, “name” refers to God’s nature and character. . . all of who God is.

But, you may be thinking, what does it mean to “to make God’s name holy?”

To make holy God’s name in our lives means to honor it and place it high above anything else in our lives.

It means loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

It means that God’s name holds first importance, it is on a whole other level than anything else.

As Christians, we bear the name of Christ. Thus, we either honor or profane his name by the way we live and follow his commands.

In short, we make God’s name holy when we obey his commands and make his name great in all we do. . .

In our relationships, academics, dance, athletics, the way we dress, music we listen to, movies we watch, books we read, and everything in between.

The only way we can have a strong desire to glorify God’s name in our lives is through forgetting ourselves.

We must not desire our name to be made holy but God’s. We must not seek our own glory, but God’s glory alone.

By asking God’s name to be hallowed in our lives, we are pleading with God to complete his sanctifying work in us. . . so that his name, which was once defamed among the nations, would be made holy and that Jesus would quickly return.

And so, by God’s name being hallowed in our lives, our friends, our family, our coaches, our teachers, and all others who see our lives can behold the beauty, splendor, and holiness of the Lord and come to Jesus!

But as we ask God’s name to be hallowed in our lives, don’t think this is drudgery. . . instead, it will be our delight when God’s name is made holy in our lives. . . for this is our purpose. . . this is why God made us. . . to glorify Him, AND enjoy Him forever.

The more we glorify God by making his name holy in our lives. . . the more we will enjoy him. . . and the more we delight in him. . . the more his name is glorified and made holy in us.

J.I. Packer says, “To give oneself to hallowing God’s name as one’s life-task means that living, though never a joy ride, will become an increasingly joy road.

Response

Become His Children.

You can only become God’s child through repentance and faith in Jesus.

Most of you have heard the message, but have you experienced the Godman behind it?

Behold him and Behave like His Children

Make his name holy.

Give him the glory and honor do his name.

Be grateful for him and all he has done for us in Christ.

Be in awe and have a reverential fear for God’s name.

Know tonight that this is our delight. . . Our true joy is found in living for God’s renown.

Close in Prayer and guide the students to put these things into practice. . .

Ways to pray for ourselves:

Thank God that he is your father and he has made you his child in Christ.

Praise God for his holiness, his eternal nature, his power, his faithfulness, etc.

Plead with God that his name would be made holy in ________.

Ways to pray for others:

Pray that God would make lost friends his children through Jesus.

Pray that your lost friends and family would see and know the holiness and glory of God, that he is on a completely different plane.

Pray for your Christian friends that God would make his name holy in their life.