Matthew 6:9-13
“Our Father which art in heaven”
I read about a soldier who was caught one night returning to his quarters from the nearby woods, and he was charged with holding communications with the enemy. The soldier pleaded that he had gone into the woods to pray. The commanding officer skeptical of his defense shouted at him, "Then down on your knees and pray now. It may be your last” The soldier knelt down and prayed so fervently and sincerely that even the skeptical commanding officer was touched. When the soldier had finished praying the officer said, "You may go, I believe you. If you hadn’t drilled so often, you couldn’t have done so well at review."
If our prayer life was placed under review, how would we do? Perhaps of all areas of our Christian life, the one we struggle in the most is our prayer life. It is the one area that is most neglected and ineffective. In the section of the Sermon on the Mount that we are looking at now Jesus teaches us how to pray. This section, often called “The Lord’s Prayer,” is one of the most familiar of all the Bible. Many can quote it by memory. Actually it should be called the “Model Prayer” because it gives us a structure and guidelines to how we should pray.
In short, Jesus is teaching us how to pray. Jesus said, “After this manner therefore pray ye.” The word “manner” simply means “in this way.” Jesus was saying that this is the way we ought to pray. In Luke’s account of the Model Prayer (11) the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Again, Jesus is teaching us how to pray.
I am calling it HOW TO PRAY 101. Jesus gives us all the essential principles of prayer necessary to make our prayer life effective. He is giving us lessons on what should be involved in our prayer time. I want us to look at this model prayer learn and consider what Jesus teaches us about how we should pray.
Let us begin by noticingg the emphasis on God in the first three petitions: Thy name, Thy kingdom, Thy will. Then notice the second part of the prayer and its emphasis on the poverty of man: Give us, forgive us. deliver us. Then observe how the prayer comes full circle by ending with a tight focus on God
once more: Thy kingdom, Thy power, and Thy glory.
You and I have all the needs, all the wants, and all the poverty ; He’s got everything else; we have nothing.
It’s wonderful to come with empty hands to the One who is able to give us everything we need. That’s what this prayer is all about and what it will teach us if we strive to learn its secrets.
The model prayer is a roadmap for us to use when we pray. E. M. Bounds said of this model prayer, “the outline and from are complete, yet it is but an outline, with many a blank, which needs our needs and convictions are to fill in.” I want to deal with several aspects of the opening phrase “Our Father which art in heaven” tonight.
I. “Our father” speaks of relationship
We need to understand that the basis of all praying is built upon a relationship. Our Lord began the model prayer with the assumption that the one praying is in a family relationship of a son with a Father.
John 1:12; Galations 3:26
We are to approach him in prayer as His child.
CHRISTIANS are the only people who have the wonderful privilege of addressing Cod as their Father.
Though all men derive fife from Him and are under
His care, they cannot rightfully call Him by that name unless they have been born into His family through faith in Christ.
When you were born the first time, you entered the human family; when you were born again you enter the divine family.
A story is told of a Roman emperor who was parading
through the streets of the imperial city enjoying a victory
celebration. Tall legionaries lined the triumphal route to keep back the cheering masses. At one place along the way was a small platform where the royal family was sitting. As the conqueror approached, his youngest son, who was just a little boy, jumped down, burrowed through the crowd, and tried to run out to meet him; "You can’t do that,” said one of the guards as he caught the lad in his strong arms.
"Don’t you know who’s in that chariot? That’s the emperor!"
Quickly the youngster replied, "He may be your emperor, but he’s my father!"
All believers can approach God with full confidence and
hope because, they are closely related to Him through Christ.
To trust God’s Son who died tor me
Unites me to His family;.
So "Abba Father" I may say,
When to the Lord I bow to pray. A. To Call God “Father” represents an impressive connection with deity.
You may be acquainted with notable people; you may even be related to some famous personality. But
this connection surpasses all of that. To be a child of the Heavenly Father is "joy unspeakable and full of glory."
B. To call God "Father" also represents an
intimate connection with deity.
Paul said that we "have received the Spirit of
connection with deity. Paul said that we “have received that Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,Abba, Father,” (Romans 8:15), and this tender term “abba,” which some have suggested means "daddy,” which magnifies what an intimate relationship we enjoy with “Our Father which art in heaven.” The word “Abba” read backwards or forwards, is the same pronunciation and may teach us that God is the Father of His people in adversity as well as in prosperity.
By the way when Jesus prayed He always used the word Father, over 70 times. The word Father, He always used with only one prayer did He ever pray and not use the word Father. Do you know what prayer that was? "My God, my God, why hast thou (what?) forsaken me?" Only in sin bearing was He separated from the Father, and only then did He not say Father. All other times the intimacy of that relationship was expressed, and only in that one temporary moment when it was broken by sin bearing did He ever address God in any other term.
II. “Our Father” speaks of responsibility
A. There Is The Responsibility Of The Father To The Child
He is our Father who is in heaven. He is watching over us and caring for us. He is not some distant deity that has no contact with His children, but He is our Heavenly Father. We are the objects of His attention and affection. Just as an earthly Father cares for and provides for his children, our Heavenly Father cares for us and takes care of us.
God as a Father settles the matter of resources because it says, "Our Father, which art (where? where?) in heaven." Our Father has all of heaven at His disposal. He is a loving Father who has all the resources of heaven. I pray to a Father who has absolutely eternal resources. Oh what a great thought.
As a Father, He has responsibility to His children
1. The Responsibility To Provide - I Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
2. There Is The Responsibility To Protect - Psalms 34:7 The angel of the LORD
encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
3. There Is The Responsibility to Prepare
This involves discipline and correction. Our Heavenly Father teaches us and corrects us as we need it.
Proverbs 3:12 “ For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”
Hebrews 12:7-10
B . There Is The Responsibility Of The Child to The Father
Every child has a responsibility to their
parents.
1. As a child, I reflect my Father.
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
2. As a child, I should respect my Father Exodus 20:12 "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
A. Respect His word
B. Respect His will
If God is a Father then He is infinitely wiser than we are. Do you remember the old television program, “Father Knows Best? We ought to be submissive to His will because He does know best.
3. As a child, I should reverence my Father
I believe reverence is best demonstrated in obedience.
Ephesians 6:1
There used to be a, a commitment to obey your father and I don’t know see much of it anymore. It was so important that in the Old Testament that God said if you find a disobedient child stone him, because I want the world to know that you’re to obey your father because that’s a mirror picture of how you’re to respond to God your Father
My children are to obey me, and I’m an unworthy father. We are to obey Him, and He is an infinitely worthy Father.
Conclusion:
I am glad that I have a Heavenly Father who cares for me. I can go to Him with my most important needs and know that He cares for me and that he can meet them.
I have a Father that is out of this world.
