Daddy Series

“DADDY” Matthew 6:9a

FBCF – 2/14/21

Jon Daniels

INTRO – How do you address your earthly father? Or, if he’s passed away, how did you address him? Most of us would use the term, “Daddy” or “Dad, or maybe “Pop.”

What is or what was your relationship with your father like?

- Was it positive or negative?

- Do you have good memories or bad memories?

- Is it loving & safe, or abusive & unsafe?

- Were you protected or vulnerable?

- Does he provide for you or neglect you?

- Do his actions & lifestyle point you toward Christ or away from Christ?

Lauren Walls testimony – “A father image to me as a young woman or a young girl…he was angry, he was unpredictable, he was abusive, he only wanted something from me – he wanted to use me…yeah…Coming to Jesus as my Savior took everything about who I believed [God] was & flipped it to truth, & that truth was he was the exact opposite of what my father was. He was kind & He was gracious. He loved me just as I was. I didn’t have to bring anything to him. He just wanted me in His presence. He brought healing & hope & redemption. It filled that void, & I no longer needed cutting, no longer needed my eating disorder, no longer needed pornography…God was constantly redeeming me, restoring me, & making me whole.”

- “You may have had an amazing dad or a horrible dad, but you have a heavenly Father, & beyond all that has happened to us in life, He wants us to know Him.” (Marian Jordan Ellis)

(https://thisredeemedlife.org/knowing-god-as-father/)

EXPLANATION – Matthew 6:9a

The more I meditated on this one aspect of God’s character & nature, the more I came to love & appreciate God as my Father – my heavenly Daddy. There are layers upon layers of His relationship toward us that are so rich & powerful & lifechanging. The very fact that this is the main way that Jesus related to God & the main way He taught us to relate to God is very significant.

In the OT, the people of Israel – God’s chosen people – did not usually think of God as an intimate Father, their Heavenly Daddy.

- He was the Lord God Almighty, “who sits enthroned between the cherubim” (Psalm 80:1)

- He was the God who came down to earth in a mysterious glory cloud with Moses “like a devouring fire at the top of the mountain” (Exodus 24:17).

- He was the Lord God who killed Uzzah when he reached out & touched the ark of the covenant (2 Samuel 6:6).

- He was the Lord God who was to be feared b/c He punished Moses for disobedience & never allowed him into the Promised Land.

- Even in the NT, the writer of Hebrews shows the judgmental power of God when he says, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).

None of these is wrong or negative or should be disregarded or ignored. But Jesus came teaching us to call God by a new name. Call Him “Abba, Father” – “Daddy.” That name is name that would have been unusual for an OT Jew to use. But it’s the name that Jesus the name that He used in all of His prayers except when He was hanging on the cross & cried out, “My God! My God…” (Matthew 27:46). In that excruciating moment, He was expressing the depth of the separation He was experiencing as He bore the sins for all mankind. Every other time He prayed, He called out to His Father – His Daddy. And He instructs us to call out to Him that way, too.

APPLICATION – Praying to God as “Father” shows how personal He is to us.

3 ASPECTS OF OUR RELATIONSHIP:

THE INTIMACY OF OUR RELATIONSHIP - God is no longer far off & untouchable. He can be approached as an intimate Father – as our Heavenly Daddy.

- Gk word for “Father” – Pater – But more likely that Jesus used the Aramaic word Abba when He was giving these instructions. Aramaic was the language that He & most other Jews spoke. And Abba is more intimate & personal than Pater.

You may not feel comfortable actually using the name “Daddy” when you pray. It may seem too casual for you. But know that God truly wants to be that intimate w/ you when you talk w/ Him.

THE ETERNITY OF OUR RELATIONSHIP – We are praying to our eternal Father who is in an eternal place – “who art in heaven.”

- He is the eternal God

- He is in heaven, an eternal place

- He is our eternal Father who loves us w/ an everlasting love.