God as Father, Almighty, and Creator
The Apostles’ Creed • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Last week we looked at the difference between knowledge and belief. One note that I want to make regarding belief is that there are various levels of belief. For instance, someone might say, “I believe it is supposed to rain today.” but this is not the level of belief that we are talking about when it comes to the Apostles’ Creed. That is a belief that is announced with intense certainty. It has extended from just a head-knowledge into conviction that transforms our souls as well as our actions.
Read Matthew 6:9-13
There are various passages of scripture that we can turn to to highlight each of these areas about God. However, I have often found that you can tell a lot about what a person believes about God based on how they pray. Because of that, what better way for us to understand what we believe about God than by looking at what the Son says that we should pray when we address the Father.
There is one main idea that I want to get across from this morning’s message: Our God is both personal and powerful. It does need to be stated that so many of these points are going to be overlapping between the areas of Father, Almighty, and Creator. Yet, we will
God as Heavenly Father
God as Heavenly Father
God the Father is certainly one of the three persons of the trinity and an aspect of God that we will look at today but I want to simply ask the question, why does Jesus use the word, Abba, here to address God in the sample prayer. There are many other titles or references that could have been used such as Master, Shepherd, or simply Lord. But Jesus prays, “Our Father in heaven”. Scripture does not include a specific reason why Jesus chooses this title for Jesus but I think a significant reason as to why is because our God is a person God. He is not a foreign god who rests on a throne to be unbothered. Instead, He knows His children and desires to hear from them.
The title of Father when used for God is helpful because there are many similarities between our heavenly Father and an earthly Father. We are able to see some of those similarities in the Lord’s prayer. To begin, God as the Father is important because there is a sense of belonging to Him. When I speak about my Dad, I claim him as my own but it is also implied that I am his child as well.
The next line of the prayer is recognition of the name of God. This will be fleshed out further in another point but the name of God is important because humans have been made in the image of God.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Just as a human has physical qualities of his father, you and I also have qualities of God. We are the highest of God’s creation because we’ve been made in His image. We recognize the greatness of His name and then remember that when he made man, he said “it was very good”.
We are also made aware of the provision of God the Father with the request for daily bread. Just as an earthly father provides for his family in protection as well as food, as does the Lord. We see this pointed out in the next chapter over in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 7:9-11.
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
By simply asking, the Lord gives to us what we are in need of at the time that we need it.
Before we move on to the next point, I want to recognize that not everyone here has an excellent earthly father. In fact, every person in this room has a father who is or was flawed. This is a fact of life. I want to speak briefly to those who may not be encouraged by the fact that God is our heavenly father because of a bad impression of earthly fathers. The reality is that we can be encouraged that there is a heavenly father who has a love unmatched by even the best earthly father. Belonging to Him, being made in His image, and His care in our lives should naturally be the source of our encouragement.
Next, I want to observe
God as Almighty
God as Almighty
We have looked at the areas that God is similar to what a heavenly father is, but one of the areas that He is unlike a father is in his might. The power of God is often highlighted and is apparent even in just the action of prayer. It is observable in two portions of the Lord’s Prayer. First, we should pray “your kingdom come, your will be done” and in praying this, we recognize the power of God in His kingdom. It’s also present in both the heavens and the earth, which will be covered in a moment. We are told in multiple places in the bible that the Lord will build His Kingdom. Matthew 16:18 tells us that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church and therefore the kingdom of God. Just as a king desires that His people and land would flourish, we pray that God would have His will and cause exactly that to happen.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The second area of the model prayer from Jesus that recognizes God as the almighty is the forgiveness of debts. God being almighty is not just an attribute assigned to Him that has been observed. It is often used in the Old Testament as a title. For instance, listen to Genesis 17:1-2.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
A commandment is given for Abram to conduct himself in a very specific way. With that command comes the possibility that Abram might not obey the Lord, which would be missing the mark and therefore sinning. It is only God that can forgive us for the ways that we have sinned against Him. It isn’t your pastor, your parents, your boss at work. Only God has the power to forgive. Even in Mark 1:4, we read that John is baptizing repentance for the forgiveness of sins but he was not the one who was doing the forgiving. It is God alone who is almighty and holds that power. He reveals Himself to us, that we might repent and turn away from evil.
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Finally, the cry to God the Father to help us not to be led into temptation points to how He is almighty. It is God who delivers His people from evil. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we read:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Pointing back to the provision mentioned earlier, that God has the power to give, there will always be provided a way of escape and the ability to endure the temptation.
Finally, we come to
God as Creator
God as Creator
One simple statement in this prayer points to God as the creator: on earth as it is in heaven. What is there in this life that cannot be categorized as either in earth or in heaven? Nothing. It is all created by God and under His control. There is one main concept regarding the creation of God beyond mankind being made in His image. God still cares for His creation, though it was formed thousands of years ago. Listen to Psalm 104:24-30.
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
God is a creator but has not left His creation to go on without Him. In Revelation 21 we read that there will be a new earth after the first earth has passed away. There is a care for all of His creation, not just you and I.
If you have ever witness the colors of a sunset in the west, you echo Psalm 19:1. All of creation points to the almighty nature of God.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
So, when we say that we believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, we are recognizing both the personal nature of God as well as his power. He is both in control of His creation as well as caring for you and I in an intimate way. He hears our prayers and loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross as a sacrifice on our behalf. And has the power to do exactly that.
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This morning as we reflect, it is my prayer that you would both acknowledge that God is all powerful and that He cares for you.
Father
Almighty
Creator
