Pray Relationally Series

HoHum:

What have you asked (and received) from your father or mother that you would never ask from any other person?

WBTU:

I’m just Dad to them- no reason to put on airs with good old dad. Believe it or not, that is the sort of attitude Jesus urges on His followers. This is fundamental to the red letter prayer life. Because prayer- as Jesus taught it- can be and should be relational. Repeat the Model Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13. The second word in this prayer is Father (Cover Our next week, this one better for Father’s Day). Jesus was not the first person in history to address God as Father, but he clearly surprised His contemporaries not only with the relationship He claimed with His Father but also with the relationship He urged His followers of which to be a part. Our mission is to love people and lead them to a relationship with Jesus Christ- also a relationship with the Father. After Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, Jesus told her in John 20:17, “…Go… to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Those early followers of Jesus, who first heard and recorded the words of the Lord’s Prayer, used many terms and titles in praying to God. Here is a short list of the way they probably addressed God in prayer: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; The Most High God (El Elyon); The Creator of all; the Shield of Abraham; Master of Mighty Deeds; The God who is holy; Adonai (my Lord); The King who loves righteousness and justice; Lord God, King of the universe; Living and eternal King. Such ways of addressing God are biblical and proper, but when Jesus chose a mode of address for His example of how to pray, He took a far more personal approach. With one word, Jesus redefined prayer as relational more than ritual. What is a ritual? The ritual of the birthday cake. Light the candles, sing the song and then blow out the candles (Oh, but now we light the candles, blow them out and then sing the song). What things might become rituals here? Contrast ritual and relational prayer. What value do we find in each?

Jesus taught His followers that a close, intimate relationship with God is the basis of prayer to God. Jesus is encouraging us to call God Papa, Daddy. It is impossible to overemphasize how important this is to the red letter prayer life. It may be the most important thing Jesus taught about prayer.

Thesis: In that single word (Father), Jesus conveyed deep truths

For instances:

I. When we say, “Father,” we assume a relationship

There are some men who are just the male component of a baby- no relationship- it is a stretch to call them a father. God is the Father of all humanity? Well, in one sense yes but in another sense no. Charles Spurgeon says this, “I have never been able to see that creation necessarily implies fatherhood. I believe God has made many things that are not his children. Hath he not made the heavens and the earth, the sea and the fullness thereof? and are they his children? You say these are not rational and intelligent beings; but he made the angels, who stand in an eminently high and holy position, are they his children? "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son?” (Hebrews 1:5) I do not find, as a rule, that angels are called the children of God; and I must demur to the idea that mere creation brings God necessarily into the relationship of a Father. Doth not the potter make vessels of clay? But is the potter the father of the vase, or of the bottle? No, beloved, it needs something beyond creation to constitute the relationship, and those who can say, "Our Father which art in heaven," are something more than God's creatures: they have been adopted into his family.” 3 times in the NT the phrase “adoption to sonship” is used. I heard a story about two brothers: one born into a family and the other adopted. Arguing about who was loved more, the biological son reminded the other he was adopted and therefore blood is thicker than water. Without hesitation the adopted son responded, “Mom and dad are stuck with you, but they chose me.” Ephesians 1:4: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” Have to accept the adoption- how do we do that? By being born again through the water and the Spirit- John 3:5. E. Stanley Jones wrote, “The first thing in prayer is to get God. If we get Him, everything else follows. Allow God to get at you, to invade you, to take possession of you.” Often joke when talking to my sons on the phone, “Did you check the oil in your car?” Because sometimes have a hard time communicating. When a son is gone for a long time, I miss them, want to talk to them. Same is true of our relationship with God the Father. I miss my time with you by Larnelle Harris- “I miss my time with you, Those moments together, I need to be with you each day, And it hurts Me when you say, You’re too busy,, Busy trying to serve Me, But how can you serve Me, When your spirits empty, There’s a longing in My heart, Wanting more than just a part of you, It’s true, I miss My time with you.” N.T. Wright said, “As soon as one becomes a Christian, he or she can and must say, ‘Our Father’; that is one of the marks of grace, one of the first signs of faith.” No wonder Jesus made Father the first word in the prayer He modeled for His followers. Pray relationally.