Our Father In Heaven
(This is a shorter sermon due to being preached via Facebook Live during the COVID-19 shutdown)
This past week I received a call about sending chain-mail prayers around the internet. This conversation eventually led into discussing what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”.
Almost six years ago we took spent five Sundays going over that passage from Matthew 6:5-9 where Jesus is teaching His disciples.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.
Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name …”
Do you notice how this prayer starts out?
It has two facets;
1) It is directed to God the Father
2) It starts out with worship of the Father
Pastor Karenlee has challenged us to be examining Psalm 119 over these next few weeks to see what it says about the Lord.
Can we find any common themes between the Lord’s prayer and Psalm 119?
First of all, the entire Psalm is a prayer! We are taught through this prayer but nevertheless, it is one long prayer!
Who is this prayer being prayed to?
It is being prayed to the LORD, Yahweh, the God of Israel!
Psalm 119 verse:
12 – “Praise be to You, LORD …”
64 – “The earth is filled with Your love, LORD … “
68 – “You are good, and what you do is good …”
90 – “Your faithfulness continues through all generations …”
137 – “You are righteous, LORD …”
156 – “Your compassion, LORD, is great …”
David refers to the Lord by name or with the name God at least 20 times and he refers to the Lord with the pronouns of You or Yours literally dozens of times!
You will find that every prayer in the Old Testament is prayed to Yahweh, The LORD, the God of Israel!
And, every prayer in the New Testament where there is an actual text of the prayer it is being addressed to God the Father.
That is why in Psalm 119 David constantly seeks the Lord and that is why in the pattern Jesus gave us to pray He starts out with “Our Father”.
We believe the Bible to be the one and only source of Truth revealing the One True God. And based on what we find in the Bible we only pray to God.
So, the example Jesus gave the disciples starts out with “Our Father”. What does it say next?
“Hallowed by Thy name”
May Your name always be kept holy …
Let Your name remain holy …
What is Jesus teaching us here? He is teaching us that when we pray to the Father we should also start our prayers with worship!
The Lord knows our needs and our requests.
Starting our prayers with worship orients our hearts with God.
Starting our prayers with worship puts us in a position of humility where keep the proper perspective; He is God, we are not.
We do not make demands; we make requests that hinge upon His will and not ours.
Did David use worship in his prayer to the Lord as recorded in Psalm 119? Let’s look at the same verses …
12 – “Praise be to You, LORD …”
64 – “The earth is filled with Your love, LORD … “
68 – “You are good, and what You do is good …”
90 – “Your faithfulness continues through all generations …”
137 – “You are righteous, LORD …”
156 – “Your compassion, LORD, is great …”
David says in his prayer that the Lord is to be praised, He is the source of love, He is good, He is faithful, He is righteous and compassionate!
When we pray do we follow the pattern of the Lord’s prayer and the example found in Psalm 119? Do we start with worship of God?
Worship can be very hard if you only know about the Lord but do not really know Him.
Do you know how easy it is to praise someone you really love?
What’s really hard is trying to worship God when you don’t really know Him.
How can we come to know the Lord intimately so that praise and worship becomes natural?
Read and meditate upon His Word.
Obey Him and find out that He is totally trustworthy.
Find worship music that speaks of the wonder of God.
How great Thou art …
Overwhelmed by Big Daddy Weave
Forever by Kari Jobe (not the live version but one with just lyrics)
But all of that will be in vain if you do not REALLY know Jesus as your Savior.
You may have said the “sinner’s prayer” but without a life of commitment they are just empty words.
If you really know Jesus as your Lord (Master, Ruler) of your life and if you feel the Holy Spirit drawing you to the Word and to prayer often then you are in a spiritual position where worship should be natural for you and not forced.
But, if Jesus is like the medical kit you keep on the shelf for when you get a cut or if He is like the spare tire in your car that you only haul out when you are stranded, true worship will be nonexistent in your life.
Is the Lord God truly your Father who is in Heaven?
Is He so dear to you that you want to keep His name holy?
Is His name a treasure in your heart?
If so, I would suggest that we follow the pattern Jesus gave us and begin our prayers acknowledging the Father and giving Him the praise He deserves.
This will orient our hearts so that our prayers will be the prayers of a beloved child coming to their Beloved Father. It will be great!
Final thoughts and benediction.
