This being the fourth Sunday of the month, we will be looking at one of the 9 characteristics of a successful participant in God’s mission for our church. This morning, we will be looking at the characteristic of the passion to know God.
The guiding text for this morning’s message comes from Matthew 6:9-13.
This week, I enjoyed spending three evenings with a few of our youth going to the Institute of Basic Life Principles. We ate, we talked and we learned a great deal about conflict resolution, God’s way.
When I spend time with people, I listen to what they say and store up illustrations for future messages. I can say without a doubt, if I ever give a talk on "the worse ways to die," I will have 45 minutes worth of illustrations.
Not only do I listen to people’s conversations for illustrations, but I also listen to people’s prayers to discover what they believe about God and how they see God? When we pray, we often express what we believe about God or what we want others to hear we believe about God.
But when Jesus prays, He always expresses what He knows personally about God. Jesus speaks from first-hand experience. Many of us simply repeat what we’ve heard or what we wish God would be like.
This morning, we are be looking at the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray. And in teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus reveals five truths about the real God.
First, Jesus reveals that God relates to us as "our Father." We see this in verse 9.
From the very beginning, I’ve given this church the freedom to call me Dana or Pastor Dana. I’m not so concerned about what you call me to my face. I’m more concerned about what you call me behind my back. But I sometimes wonder if what you call me would give me insight into how you see me.
Some of you didn’t start to call me Pastor Dana, but you’ve gradually begun to call me Pastor Dana. I interpret that as a growing respect for me. Some of you started calling me Pastor Dana, but you’ve gradually begun to call me Dana. And I interpret that as a growing friendship with me. And then there is my wife, who only calls me Pastor Dana when I’ve done something wrong.
History indicates that before the time of Jesus, no one called God "Father" or "Baa-ba (Mandarin)" or "Otoosan (Japanese)." God was always beyond the reach of human beings. Either sin or the distance between heaven and earth separated us from God. But when Jesus came, he bridged the relationship gap between a holy God and an unbelieving humanity.
Jesus teaches us to address God as "our Father." In fact, John 1:12-13 tells us, "Yet to all who received [Jesus Christ], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."
The reason why Jesus instructs us to call God, "our Father," is because Jesus is the One who makes possible for us to have a Father-child relationship with God. And as we look further into this prayer, we will discover what kind of Father God is to us.
Second, Jesus reveals that God rules our lives. We see this in verse 10.
One of my first jobs was a counselor for a summer camp. I got along so well with my boss, that we often made fun of each other. One evening, as he was driving me home, we began to make fun of each other. I said some things that were so hurtful that he began to cry. When I got home, I was worried because I realized that although he was my friend, he was also my boss.
Jesus, through this prayer, is letting us know that although God is our Father, he is also the King of Creation. We can be sure of God’s love, protection and provision, because He is our Father, but we need also to know that His instructions are not suggestions or opinions. They are the decrees of a King.
For instance, Ephesians 5:25 tells husbands, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." If you’ve never read this verse in the Bible, it’s really there. God calls husbands to love their wives sacrificially, just as Jesus Christ gave his life on the cross as an act of love for the church.
About three months after our daughter was born, I struggled greatly with that command from God. I was going to school full-time, working part-time, shopping, cooking, cleaning and taking care of Esther part-time.
All my wife did was feed Esther. She was always tired, and she didn’t seem to want to learn to cook or clean. I didn’t know how to express my frustration and disappointment, but I did know God called me to love my wife sacrificially.
A few months passed, and Susan painfully began to do some housework and shopping. She would still be very tired and with joint pains. Other symptoms, fast heart rate, a goiter and hot body temperature led me to set a doctor’s appointment for her. We then discovered that she had been suffering from hyperthyroidism all those months.
When I received this news, I thanked God. I thanked God for His command for me to love my wife sacrificially. How terrible if I had vented my comparison of her to other mothers or if I had vented my frustrations on her.
Soon after she began her medication, she learned to shop, to cook and to clean. She has become a much better cook and Mom to Esther than I ever could be. She now does most of the house chores, and when Esther naps, she prepares Bible studies, nursery lessons and other things. Wow!!
If we choose obedience to God only when we feel like it or when we see how it benefits us, we are not relating to the God Jesus knew. We are relating to some made-up god who gives suggestions and not commands. God has a lot to say about our marriage or our singleness, about our work or study ethics, about our handling of money and relationships, our attitudes and much more. And what He says are not suggestions.
Third, Jesus reveals that God meets our needs. We read this in verse 11.
In countries where children are dying of starvation and diseases, Christians are there with money, medicine, food and the good news of Jesus Christ. And when the people in these countries come to know God as their Father, their standard of living improves. God gives us what we need each day when we related to Him as our Father and obey Him as our King..
Some of you know I worked as a youth intern for two years at this church, from 1997-1999, and then I left to intern at another church from 1999 to 2000. What most of you didn’t know was my financial condition at the time.
Around the time I resigned my position with this church, Susan resigned from her job and gave birth to Esther. Furthermore, my new internship at the other church paid about half as much as my internship with the youth here. We lived without Susan’s full-time paycheck and half of my part-time paycheck, and we had one more mouth to feed. At the time, I was aslo going to graduate school at the seminary.
I was only sure of two things. First, God called me to resign here and to serve in the San Francisco church. Second, that if I obeyed God, that he was responsible for taking care of our needs.
We saw God providing in unexpected ways during that year. I received two scholarships that I did not apply for. One scholarship paid for a certain expense we had. The other scholarship paid for the remaining tuition for my seminary study.
We can trust God to provide our daily needs. Our needs may include money to live on, time to finish our work, energy to meet the demands of the day or perseverance to be the person God wants us to be.
Trusting God to meet our needs does not mean that we don’t work hard and long hours. Trusting God to meet our needs means we don’t cheat, steal or disobey God’s commands in order to get what we think we need.
Fourth, Jesus reveals that God forgives forgivers. We read this in verse 12.
A pastor finished his message early one Sunday, (and that pastor was not me) and he wanted to check his congregation’s understanding. So he asked, "Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?"
There was a short pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up, "You have to sin."
I suspect we don’t have a problem fulfilling that prerequisite. But Jesus reveals that another prerequisite for God to forgive is our willingness to forgive others.
God wants us to forgive others so that we can be released from the anger, bitterness and tension of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness leads to a number of physical problems, sleep problems and emotional problems.
God also wants us to forgive others, so that we would come to God for forgiveness. If we can forgive the wrongs done against us, then we would have confidence that God, who is infinitely more loving, patient and compassionate, would also forgive us for the wrongs we’ve done.
If we do not forgive the wrongs done against us, we have no confidence that God would forgive us. Therefore, God does not forgive those unwilling to forgive others, not because God doesn’t want to forgive them, but because they have no confidence to come to God for forgiveness.
Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out of the hospital the next day!
And I would add, if I could convince more people to forgive those who have wronged them, they would most certainly experience the forgiveness of God also.
If there’s one thing people can do to improve their marriages, parent-child relationships, work relationships and relationship with God, that one thing is to learn to forgive and ask for forgiveness. God forgives forgivers.
Fifth, Jesus reveals that God is greater than the evil one. We read this in verse 13.
In order to understand this part of the prayer, we must know that the Bible states that God does not tempt us, but temptation comes from the evil one’s influence outside of us or inside of us. The Bible also states that God is well able to rescue us from the temptation, but He permits the evil one to tempt us so that we build character.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
James 1:2-4 reads, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
When I began as a minister at UC Davis Asian American Christian Fellowship, I set a goal to double the number of members each year. After one year, our membership went from 40 to 35. Not only was I discouraged by the lack of growth, but I was also having a difficult time working with one of the student leaders.
She turned others against me, and worked to discredit me. When I asked her why she was doing that, she just said she didn’t agree with the way I was doing things.
So I called the director of the Asian American Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles, and asked what I could do. He told me that as the minister, I can remove her from leadership.
I prayed about doing that, but I didn’t sense that was what God wanted me to do. I sensed that God wanted me to forgive her and to win her over with unconditional love.
I struggled with paranoia during the following months, wondering what else she would do. I was cautious not to be with her alone, because she might frame me for violating her. When I walked into the fellowship meetings, her friends would avoid me. I felt uneasy to say the least.
At the end of the school year, her leadership term ended, and I was glad. My fear that she would split the fellowship did not happen. In fact, our fellowship more than doubled in number. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to disciple more than 20 students and commission more than 10 students to go on summer missions.
As I looked back, that student leader was only a pawn in the hands of the evil one to bring divisiveness and fear into my ministry. She didn’t know what she was doing was wrong, but God let that happen to build my character of love, forgiveness and trust in Him.
God also showed me that He was greater than the evil one. The evil one wanted to destroy the fellowship and for Christians to destroy each other, but God caused the fellowship to experience spiritual maturity and numeric growth. God is greater than the evil one.
While I was away at the preaching seminars in Anaheim, Connie sent me an email with children’s letters to God. Let me read one to you:
"Dear God,
I bet it’s very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole word. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. Signed, Nan"
Nan, it’s okay that you can’t love the 4 people in your family, but don’t assume that because you can’t, God can’t either. The God that Jesus knew is quite different from the god that many of us have in our imagination.
The next time you pray, chose to pray to the God Who is your Father, Who rules your life, Who meets your needs, Who wants you to forgive and to be forgiven, and Who is greater than the evil one.
