HoHum:
Three boys in the schoolyard were bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, “My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he then calls it a poem, they give him $50.00.” The second boy says, “That’s nothing, My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100.00.” The third boy says, “I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon, and it takes eight people to collect all the money!” I must be doing something wrong- only 2 people here- well 3 if count Katie
WBTU:
Started talking about Father’s Day in Sunday school and continuing the theme here. Was Looking over Revelation 15 and 16 and had a hard time adapting it for Father’s Day. Return to our regularly scheduled programming next week, Lord willing. In Sunday school talking about the Red Letter Prayer Life- teachings of Jesus on prayer. Two word titles- Sunday school was pray relationally and this is called pray confidently (adapted from Bob Hostetler’s Book called the Red Letter Prayer life). We can have confidence in prayer because we are talking to our heavenly Father. Old proverb that says, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” May be the best person for the job but if we have no connections, it will probably go to someone else. When the disciples asked Jesus to school them in prayer, Jesus started the Model prayer with, “Our Father which art in heaven.” First two words here call us to pray communally (talk about this next time in Sunday school) and relationally. The 3rd and 4th words “Our Father in heaven” instruct us to pay with confidence. These 2 words, “In heaven” should make a big difference in how we pray- and how much we pray. This opening phrase is easily misunderstood. Going to do what Fred Craddock would warn against- what this phrase does not mean.
Thesis: What this opening phrase does not mean
For instances:
I. Pray confidently because our father in heaven is not earthly father
As a minister, I have met countless people who struggle to relate to God and experience His love because their concept of a father has been formed- or rather malformed- by an unfulfilling or unhealthy relationship with their earthly father. Some never knew their father, so trying to relate to God as a father is like someone who has been blind from birth trying to understand the color green- have difficulty. This is what makes Father’s Day difficult for many, no one has had a perfect relationship with their father, always could have been more, could have said more. The red letter prayer life, the life of prayer as defined by Jesus, is so important today. When Jesus tells us to pray, “Our Father in heaven,” He distinguishes our heavenly Father from all earthy fathers. He says, in effect, that to have the prayer life that Jesus had is to understand the following things:
1. Our Father in heaven is not absent
When Moses encountered the burning bush in the wilderness, God spoke to him from the bush, saying in Exodus 3:7-8: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” God said, “I have seen. I have heard. I know. I have come.” God was never absent, never unconcerned, never disconnected from them. Same is true of us. Our Father in heaven sees, hears, knows and cares about every detail of our lives. He comes to us and says, “I will never leave you or forsake you” Deuteronomy 31:6.
2. Our Father in heaven is not neglectful.
Singer and songwriter Harry Chapin scored a #1 hit with the song “Cat’s in the Cradle.” The lyrics tell the story of a man who welcomes a son into the world. “But there were planes to catch and bills to pay,” the song says, painting a picture of a growing boy who repeatedly longs for his dad to spend time with him and play with him. But the father is too busy and answers, “Not today.” Chapin’s song is tearjerker because many can identify with this. Even so, this is not the picture of our Father in heaven. He is an attentive Father. According to the Psalmist David in Psalm 34:15, “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.” Peter said in 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Picture of a dad after a long day asleep on the couch. Isaiah 40:28 says, "The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”
3. Our Father in heaven is not impulsive
One of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, King Lear, depicts an aging king who decides to divide his realm among his 3 daughters according to the love they express for him. When his youngest- and most virtuous- daughter, Cordelia, refuses to take part in this charade, the king banishes her and entrusts himself and his kingdom to his remaining daughters, who are manipulative and disloyal. Everyone in the story pays dearly for the king’s impulsive and unpredictable behavior. What a picture of the damage that can be done by an impulsive father, whether by addiction, mental illness or something else. Jesus is saying that is not our Father. Isaiah 54:10 says, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”
4. Our Father in heaven is not abusive.
In 1964 the World’s Fair was in New York City. 12 year old Dominic (Nick) Tucci was a stowaway at the Fair for 11 days. He became a legend but for some reason people never really inquired as to why a 12 year old would stay at the Fair and never go home. Simple- he was being abused. Nick recounted later that he was glad for the 11 days where he could eat food and sleep in peace in secluded locations around the fairgrounds. He never had it so good. The 11 days gave him a respite so that when he did go home he was rested up for the war he faced. It turned so bad that they finally sent him to a boarding school and he disappeared from the public eye. God is not like that, we want to be close to him, we want to go home to him. Psalm 103:8-13 says, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”
II. Pray confidently because our father in heaven is not distant
God is in heaven and we are here so he is a far off God. Where is heaven? Can debate this but really Jesus is saying that Our Father in heaven is not constrained by space, matter or time; He controls these things. Psalm 139:7-10: Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens (outer space), you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Through Jesus, God got closer, he moved into the neighborhood.
III. Pray confidently because our father in heaven is not limited
I am limited. I often said to my children that we cannot do this or that because we don’t have the money. Unable to provide them with new car, as a matter of fact, they paid for their used cars. Andy bought a truck and Alex rode with him until he got his own. Zach and Zane also shared a car. Unable to take that trip to Cancun, we went to my sister in laws cabin in Boone, NC. No one can say that my kids are spoiled, wanted them to work for what they have (didn’t have much of a choice). Now our Father in heaven is unlimited. He is all knowing, all seeing, all powerful. He is not a creature but the Creator. He is no victim of circumstances but the victor over every circumstance. He is not bound by the laws of nature- or by the state of the economy. He transcends every limitation. When Jesus tells us to pray to “Our Father in heaven,” He is telling us to pray in that reality, in that awareness, of God’s unlimited ability. God is “able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
IV. Pray confidently because our Father in heaven is not reluctant
Bill Cosby (I know but I like this one) said, “I asked my father for a dollar for the school picnic, he told me how he killed a grizzly bear with his loose-leaf notebook.” Reluctant to give anything to a child. Our heavenly Father is not that way. Luke 11:11-13: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” What is the best gift we can receive? Salvation, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The seal, the deposit of the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 1:22- set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. How can we have this seal, HS? Acts 2:38- Is God reluctant to give us salvation? 2 Corinthians 9:7: Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Why? Because God is a cheerful giver and wants to gives good gifts to his children.
