Matthew 6:5-15 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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 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. 7 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. 9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' 14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Introduction: The value of prayer
Every once in a while when you listen to a sermon there are those lines that just seem to reach out and grab you by the lapel and captivate your attention. You are drifting off in some distraction, but then something is said that makes your whole heart and soul sit up and say, “Whoa – I’ve got to hear this.” Jesus has one of those lines right around the middle point of the Sermon on the Mount. It comes in verse 9 of chapter 6, where Jesus says, This, then, is how you should pray… If the Lord Jesus Christ saying, “Hey, I’m about to teach you how to pray” doesn’t grab your attention, I don’t know what would.
Prayer is one of the most astonishing of all God’s gifts to us. The almighty, eternal, Creator God comes into the sea of humanity and to a few, select people He gives out His personal phone number – a direct line to God. And He promises - any time that line rings – He will always pick up. The awesome privilege of just being able to communicate with the Almighty makes prayer valuable beyond comprehension. But that is not the only benefit of prayer. Prayer brings us every kind of richness. And we have so many reasons to pray. We pray to prepare ourselves to receive blessing from our Father. He is always ready to give, but we are not always ready to receive, so prayer can unclog and widen the channels through which God desires to pour out His grace. We pray to alert ourselves to the nearness of God. We pray to awaken our souls to seek after Him. We pray to exercise our faith in His promises. We pray to unburden our hearts as we cast our cares on Him. We pray to show Him as our great Provider and Father and King. We pray to both increase our good appetites and satisfy them. We pray to be the tools God uses to bring about His perfect plan and glorious purposes. We pray for one another to express our love. We pray to be calmed when we are upset, strengthened when we are weak, guided when we are lost, enlightened when we are confused, emboldened when we are cowardly, motivated when we are apathetic, rescued when we are in trouble, loved when we are rejected, befriended when we are lonely, refreshed when we are dry, filled when we are empty, forgiven when we sin.
We pray to uncap the overflowing joy of worship in our hearts. It is impossible to put into words the value of prayer, and yet so many things hinder us from it. Unlimited blessing is there every day for the taking and yet we pass so much of it up because of the things that hinder our prayers. So when the Son of God stands on a hillside and gets to the middle of a sermon and says, “This, then, is how you should pray…” He has got our attention.
A framework for prayer
We have been studying verse-by-verse through the Sermon on the Mount and we come this morning to the Lord’s Prayer. But before we dive in to the content of the prayer we need to understand how Jesus intended for us to take this. When Jesus said, "This, then, is how you should pray” does that mean this is a prayer to be recited, or a pattern to be followed? And if it is a pattern, what is it about the pattern that we are to follow? The topics? The order? The length? In what sense is this prayer exemplary for us?
I think we can rule out the idea of this prayer being a fixed prayer that we are to recite word for word, because on another occasion, in Luke 11, the Disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray, and Jesus answered, "When you pray, say: "'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation'" (Luke 11:2-4). The fact that Jesus answered them that way tells us two things. First, it must not be a fixed, formulaic prayer to be recited word for word, because on the two occasions that Jesus gives it He does not use the same wording. The one He gave in the Sermon on the Mount is twice as long as the one He gave in Luke 11. So we assume this prayer is to be used as an outline, not a rote prayer. The Disciples did not say, “Teach us a prayer.” They said, “Teach us to pray.”
It is also interesting to note that nowhere in the rest of the Bible do we see anyone praying these exact words. We have the record of many prayers offered by the Church and by individuals and Apostles in the book of Acts, and not one is a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. We have many of Paul’s prayers in the Epistles, and never do you hear this wording. In the book of Revelation we hear not only the prayers of the saints in the Tribulation but also the prayers of the worshippers in heaven and nobody is saying this exact prayer. In fact Jesus Himself prayed in John 17 and other places and never once does He say these words in a prayer to God. So it is clear that Jesus had more in mind than for this to simply be recited word for word.
It is an outline. At the top of my sermon notes I have an outline of my sermon. I could get up here and rattle off that outline in under a minute. But I do not do that because just reading the outline does not communicate all that is on my heart to tell you. The Lord’s Prayer is about fifty words in Matthew and in Luke it is about thirty-five. Matthew’s longer version takes fifteen seconds to say out loud. It is an outline. That is not to say it is wrong to recite it. If you give thought to what you are saying, and you mean what you are saying, reciting the Lord’s Prayer can be a wonderful way to pray. But if you really do mean it – and those things really are in your heart, and you really do desire the things Jesus tells us to ask for, it is hard to imagine your prayer will be over in fifteen seconds. So the Lord’s Prayer is an outline.
But on the other hand, it is fascinating to me that even though there are differences, when Jesus teaches on prayer on two separate occasions His model for prayer is so similar. It is not exactly the same, but there is a huge amount of similarity. Which means there is somewhat of a fixed framework that Jesus had in mind. It is not just one example of a good prayer. It is a pattern for prayer.
Why do we need a pattern?
But before we talk about what the pattern is, I think we need to ask the question, “Why do we need a pattern?” Why would the Disciples say to Jesus, “Teach us how to pray”? How hard is it? Isn’t prayer just talking to God? Why didn’t Jesus answer this question by saying, “Simple - just pour out whatever’s on your heart to God”? God wants us to talk to Him, but He wants us to talk to Him in a certain way. There are some ways of praying that are not as good as other ways, and so Jesus is teaching us the right way.
Think about what inspired the Disciples’ question in Luke 11. They heard Jesus’ prayers.
Luke 11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
The Jews of that time were very, very devoted to prayer. We saw that a couple weeks ago – they had prayers for absolutely every occasion, and they prayed numerous times a day with all kinds of prescribed prayers. But when the Disciples heard Jesus it evidently struck them how different His way of praying was from what they were used to. It was not something they could just easily copy, so they ask Him to teach them. So clearly not all prayers are the same. Some prayers are better than other prayers, and so we want to always strive to keep improving in the way we talk to God.
Now maybe you hear that and say, “Wait a minute – didn’t you just tell us last week that all prayer must be genuine? If we pray something different than what is actually in our hearts then it’s not true prayer? And if that’s the case then why does Jesus tell us what to pray? Why doesn’t He tell us to just pray whatever we feel?” The answer is it is true that prayer must be the genuine expression of your true desires, and it is also true that some prayers are better than others, so the conclusion is this: the way to improve your prayers is to improve your desires. If I look at the Lord’s Prayer and say, “Wow, I guess I’ve been praying for the wrong things – or with the wrong emphasis,” the solution is not for me to just start asking for things that I do not really care about just because Jesus said to ask for those things. The solution is to start caring about those things so much that I naturally ask for them. If I just really, really, really want a higher income or a better house or better job, and that is the consuming desire of my heart, but I really do not care all that much about the hallowing of God’s name or the coming of His kingdom, the solution is not to just say, “Well, I have to be honest in my prayers so I’m stuck praying for money.” Nor is the solution to say, “I guess I just need to pray for things I don’t care that much about.” The solution is to work toward changing my heart so I am much more consumed with God’s glory than my own comfort. And it is my deep desire and prayer that this study of the Lord’s Prayer will help all of us make progress in that direction.
The invocation
So let’s begin with the invocation (or address) – Our Father in heaven.
The purpose of an invocation
Why do we start our prayers with an address? We know we are talking to God; He knows we are talking to Him, so why do I need to begin by saying “Our Father” or “Dear heavenly Father” or something like that?
To remind us that we are speaking to someone
I think one purpose is to remind ourselves that we are speaking to a Person. We learned last week that true prayer is relational. Just saying a prayer is not praying. You cannot have a true conversation without paying attention to the person you are talking with, and since we cannot see God it is very easy to forget that we are actually speaking with a person. So it makes sense at the outset to remind ourselves who we are talking to right at the beginning of the prayer. A couple weeks ago I told you that it really helps me to take some time before I pray to just think about God, and then think about the fact that He is right there in the room with me before I start praying. That just makes all the difference in the world for me. And when I said that the question came up about whether it is better to think of God as being there in the room with you or as being up in heaven. And I will talk some more about that when we get to the phrase “in heaven,” but for now I will just say that I believe part or the purpose of the invocation at the beginning of a prayer is to remind us that we are talking to a Person.
Thinking about God is not the same thing as paying attention to Him. I can think about you without paying any attention to you personally, right? I can think about you when you are not even there. But paying attention to you is a relational, personal thing that takes place when you and I are in the same place, interacting with each other. And prayer is when you do that with God.
To remind us to whom we are speaking
Another purpose for the invocation or address is to remind ourselves who that Person is. It does not do much good to pray to the wrong person, right? All prayer must be offered to the true God or it is worthless. And contrary to popular belief, just because a person is praying does not mean he is speaking to the true God. Most people assume that if anyone just closes his eyes and says a prayer that God will hear it. But praying to a false god does not count as prayer any more than my talking to someone else counts as talking to you. It matters who you are talking to. If your wife wants you to talk more, and so you spend hours chatting with all the women at work – that is not what she has in mind. If your words are directed to someone else – or to no one at all in particular – you just chatter away by yourself in your bedroom – that does not count as communication with your wife. And kneeling down and saying words into the air, if those words are directed to a false god or to no specific god in particular – that is not prayer. The only true God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Allah is not God, neither is Krishna or Buddha or some unnamed “big guy upstairs.” The Triune God of the Bible; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Creator; the Author of the Bible; Yahweh Almighty – He is the only true God. All other gods of all other religions are demons.
1 Corinthians 10:20 the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God
So, for example, if you pray to a god who would never send anyone to hell, you are talking to a demon, not God. If you pray to a god who is not a trinity, or a god who started out as a man and later became a god, or a god who is one among many, or a god who treats everyone as his child regardless of whether they know Jesus Christ – you are talking to a demon, not God, and your prayers are not prayers.
To remind us of the kind of Person we are addressing
So the invocation reminds us that we are talking to a Person, it reminds us which Person we are talking to, and thirdly, it reminds us what sort of Person He is. Your conception of what He is like will determine how you relate to Him. The way you think about a person determines how you relate to that person. If I think of you as a threat I will speak with you in a different way than if I think of you as my rescuer. If I think of you as being wise or foolish, kind or harsh, generous or stingy, for me or against me, powerful or weak, honorable or dishonorable, delightful or burdensome, rich or needy – all of that will make a big difference on how I interact with you. If you started your prayer, “O great unknowable spirit…” or “Oh thou angry Judge…” you will pray a lot differently than if you are speaking to your own dear Father. If we think the wrong way about God it will spoil our prayers. If I have a conception of God as being against me, that will spoil my prayers. If I think of Him as unable to help me, or unwilling, or miserly, or burdensome rather than delightful, or foolish – any of those things will ruin my prayers. So the invocation is in large measure for us. We call Him “Lord” not to inform Him about His lordship, but to affirm our submission to His lordship. We call Him Savior, Master, Creator, Lord, King, Father, etc. because it is so important for us to have an awareness that He is all that. And the greatest and most important of all invocations is, “Father.”
Fatherhood
First and foremost our Lord taught us to focus our attention on the fatherhood of God when we pray. That means we address our prayers primarily to the Father (as opposed to Jesus or the Holy Spirit), and we relate to Him with words and thoughts and attitudes that are fitting for a child to relate to his or her father.
Pray to the Father
And we learn that not only from Jesus’ teaching but also from His example. Jesus’ prayers were directed to the Father. He refers to God as His Father over one hundred times just in the Gospel of John. In fact, every prayer He ever prayed he addressed God as His Father (except on the cross when He quoted Psalm 22 and said “My God…why have you forsaken me?)
That is not to say it is wrong or improper to address another member of the Trinity. That would take the principle too far. I did find two examples of praying to Jesus in Scripture.
1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
Acts 7:59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And in the book of Revelation praise and worship are offered to the Lamb. So it is appropriate to worship and pray to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the examples of that are exceptions to the rule. And where we do see those exceptions I think it is significant that it is not just the name “Jesus” but a lofty title. Stephen said “Lord Jesus,” and Paul said, “Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I mention that because I have noticed that those who tend toward over-familiarity in prayer very often address all their prayers to Jesus. All their prayers, all their worship – it is always Jesus, and rarely with any titles of exaltation. In some cases I think that points to an over-familiarity with the King of kings. Praying mainly to our Father in heaven helps prevent us from reducing God to kind of a buddy-buddy relationship. So in those exceptions when we pray to Jesus (who calls Himself our Brother), it is good to include some titles of exaltation to remind ourselves that He is still the Creator and we are still creatures. Paul used the name Jesus over two hundred times and only seventeen appear alone without an exalted title. And none of those seventeen appears in a prayer or doxology or worship context. For Paul it was always, “the Lord Jesus,” or “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” or “the great God and Savior Christ Jesus,” or something like that. I think we would do well to have more titles be included in our mentions of Jesus – especially in contexts of prayer and worship.
That will help guard us against over-familiarity. But the best safeguard against that, I think, is to address the great majority of our prayers to God the Father. Thinking of speaking to a perfect father in heaven gives the ideal balance between intimacy and reverence. It is important that we do not think of God as being too remote or distant, so that He is afar off and not really interested or involved in us individually. And it is also important that we do not think of Him as being so close and nearby and familiar that He becomes a buddy or pal so that there is no trembling in awe. And the concept of fatherhood is a huge help to us in finding that perfect balance.
Intimacy and Honor
There is no greater example in all of human relationships of a love that so perfectly combines intimacy and respect. The illustration might not be quite as powerful for us as it was at that time because I think people tended to have much higher respect for their fathers back then. But we still get the idea. You might be very close to your dad. You might consider him your best friend. But still, you do not talk to him the same way you talk to your buddy down the street. You might be such close friends with a kid at school that you can even call each other names and neither of you get offended. And it is all in good fun and no disrespect is intended or taken. But still – you don’t talk that way to your father. And not because he cannot take a joke, or you are not close, but just because it is not fitting. There is a certain amount of honor due your father.
Malachi 1:6 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me?
That word honor is KAVAD (??????), and it is related to the word glory, which is KAVOD (??????). Both words come from the idea of heaviness or weightiness. You dishonor someone by treating him more lightly than he ought to be treated. But when you honor someone instead of taking him lightly you attach great weight and importance and significance to him.
If I am speaking to a police officer, or some important big shot somewhere, or the President of the United States; I will speak to him with the most respectful terms I know. It is “yes, sir” and “no, sir” and I am not going to take a lot of liberties in becoming overly casual or familiar. On the other hand, if I am just hanging out with one of my buddies my speech will be much different. The one is a relationship of honor and respect and even an element of fear, whereas the other one is a relationship of closeness and familiarity and being comfortable with each other.
But with your father both of those are combined. (And I realize some of you grew up in a home where the father-child relationship was twisted or messed up in various ways. In fact, we all did to some degree. But I think there is something in us that intuitively knows that if you could not ever get close to your dad, or it was impossible to respect him – that is not the way things ought to be. I think even people with bad human fathers can still appreciate the father imagery for God because there is something deep inside us that longs for the right kind of father-child relationship. We intuitively know how it should be, and that is why we are so distressed when we don’t have it. In fact, sometimes those who never had it understand it better than anyone else because the rest of us take it for granted and fail to realize how wonderful it really is. But those who have never had it but had some terrible alternative know better than anyone else how desirable a proper father-child relationship really is.)
It is an amazing thing, because in most relationships reverence and fear are on the opposite end of the spectrum from familiarity and intimacy. You either have one or the other but not both. But with your father, not only can you have both but the more you have of one the more you tend to have of the other. The sweeter the intimacy the greater the respect. Find someone who has a great relationship with his or her father and you will see this. People who are really close to their dad, and have a sweet friendship with him and feel utterly safe around him – those tend to be the same people who have such a deep respect for their father that they would never dream of taking him lightly. Intentionally disobeying him is out of the question. In fact, they tremble at the thought of even just doing something to disappoint him. Intimate love and reverent fear become beautifully entwined in a way unique in all human relationships.
I was tempted to go through all the references to God as father in the Scriptures so I could summarize what is most emphasized in our father-child relationship with Him. But I’m afraid if we take too much time studying that we will lose sight of the bigger picture of the teaching here on prayer. So I am just going to point out some things that come to my mind in Scripture, but do not take this as a comprehensive summary of all that Scripture says on the subject.
Access
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the significance of God’s fatherhood in Scripture is access. As His children we have special access that enables us to come boldly into God’s presence. There is a whole parable in Luke 11 devoted to teaching the importance of boldness in prayer (the neighbor who knocks on the door in the middle of the night and gets his request because of his boldness).
2 Corinthians 3:4 We have … confidence before God through Christ.
Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Hebrews 3:14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus … let us draw near
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
I remember one time at a pastor’s conference after John MacArthur spoke there was a huge, long line of pastors waiting to talk to John MacArthur. I was watching as all these important, big shot pastors waiting in that line, and all of a sudden this little girl just comes walking through all the forest of legs, past everyone right up to John MacArthur. He stopped talking to the men and immediately turned and picked her up and gave her a big hug and found out what it was she wanted. It was his granddaughter, and she had ten times the access to him that anyone else in the building had.
Being a son or a daughter gives you special privileges and special access to your father. If my kids need something from me I don’t tell them to call the church line and set up an appointment.
Love
So we have special access to God and Jesus wants us to pray accordingly so He teaches us to address God as “Father.” Another aspect of the father-child relationship that is often highlighted in Scripture is the obvious one – love. Last week we saw how the Scriptures emphasize different things for each of the members of the Trinity. And the thing that is especially emphasized for the Father is His love. We saw that in 2 Corinthians 13:14. .Jude 1:1 is another example of that. It says we are kept by Jesus Christ and loved by God the Father. In 2 Thessalonians 2:16 Paul mentions our Lord Jesus Christ and then God the Father, and as soon as he mentions the Father he adds, “who loved us.”
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us
Does the Holy Spirit love us? Yes. The Son? Yes. But there is something about the love that God the Father has for us that receives special attention in God’s Word. And that is very easy to understand if you are a father. If you ever want to get yourself into a world of hurt just try picking on a little child right in front of his father. The love of a father for his children is one of the most powerful forces in the human realm. It is hard to put into words. It is built into us by God so we can understand something of what He means when He talks about His love for us. The love Jesus has for us is compared to that of a husband toward his bride. But the love of the Father is compared more to that of a father toward his children.
Psalm 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him
When we pray we are not coming to a God who is reluctant to bless us. We are not coming to a deity who has to be manipulated and cajoled and badgered into acting for us. We come to an eager Father who can hardly wait to bless us. In fact sometimes His eagerness takes over and he jumps the gun.
Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
Our Father in heaven has such eagerness to bless us that sometimes He just runs out of patience and cannot even wait until we finish out the prayer. “Hey Dad, can I hav…” “YES!”
Provision
Another point that is emphasized is that He is our provider. A father provides for his children. A little later in chapter 6 Jesus is going to tell us never to worry. He says, “Look at the birds of the air. Your Father feeds them, so certainly He’ll take care of His own daughter or son (6:26). Then in chapter 7 He says this:
Matthew 7:9 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 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 good gifts to those who ask him!
When your child asks for a fish you may not always give him a fish, but you will never give him a snake. You will never give him something to harm him – only things that will benefit him. So a father naturally provides for his children. He provides not just food and shelter, but guidance, protection, instruction, nurture – everything the child needs.
Discipline
Another huge aspect of fatherhood in Scripture is discipline. God designed the father to be the main disciplinarian in the home, and that is also a picture of how God deals with us.
Hebrews 12:5-11 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
This is where healthy fear is mingled with intimate love. I think one of the worst forms of child abuse is when a father is so overly permissive that his children have no fear at all of disobeying him. Or he is so harsh and unloving with them that they fear him but they cannot conceive of him loving them. We need to raise our children so that passages like Hebrews 12 make sense to them. They can read about simultaneously fearing God and loving God and it makes perfect sense to them because of their father.
It is amazing how God builds into a little child the capacity to simultaneously fear and love his father. In any other context if someone inflicts pain on that child the child will retreat from that person. But firm, loving discipline from a parent is different. When my kids were little and did something that called for some especially severe punishment, as soon as the punishment was over they would just cling to me. They wanted to be close to me and wanted me to hold them and were more affectionate toward me than ever. Some of the sweetest times of closeness between me and my children when they were little came right after discipline. Loving but firm discipline creates a bond of love in the heart of a child that is stronger than the love that child has toward a permissive parent. It is an amazing thing to watch, and I think that is built into us so we can understand something of how we are to relate to our Father in heaven. And so a huge part of relating to God as our father is the fear of love and willing, eager obedience.
2 Corinthians 6:18-7:1 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves … perfecting holiness out of fear of God.
“Our” Father
One last thing I would like to point out before we wrap up this morning: take a look at the word “our.” It is our Father, which should keep us from becoming too individualistic in our prayer. Calling God Father has some implications about your relationship to the other people who call Him Father. When Jesus said to go into your room and close the door to pray, the word “you” was in the singular. You, as an individual, pray in private rather than pray to impress people. But here Jesus switches to the plural. Instead of “My Father in heaven” it is “Our Father in heaven.”
Is that a contradiction to the private prayer emphasis earlier in the chapter? Not at all. When Jesus told us to pray in private He was not condemning corporate prayer; He was condemning prayer for the purpose of self-exaltation. And corporate prayer can actually be a wonderful remedy for self-exaltation. If I pray to show off, that is the opposite of togetherness. I am trying to lift myself above everyone else. But when I gather together with my brothers and sisters in Christ and together we say, “Our Father,” that has a leveling effect on everyone. When I say “my Father” I am calling myself a child of God. But when I say “our Father,” I am calling you a child of God. Every time we say “our Father” we are making a rather dramatic statement about our relationship to one another as siblings. This is the great leveler of all believers. In the Church the king and the beggar stand side by side and both say, “our Father.” No matter who you are or what you achieve or how gifted or famous or important you are - the highest status you can ever attain in this family is “brother” or “sister.” And no matter how lowly or uneducated or weak or unattractive you are, or how often you fail, if you are a Christian the lowest status you could ever have in this family is “brother” or “sister.” When I pray I must recognize not only God’s Fatherhood of me, but also His fatherhood of you. The “our Father” keeps us from individualism and draws us together as siblings in love as together we draw near to our Father who is in heaven.
Benediction: Jude 1:1-2 To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
