“Lord,
Teach Us to Pray” III (Matt 6:9)
Introduction
– Having been duly warned not to pray in order to impress
others or to babble in vain repetition, Jesus instructs the disciples, “In
this manner, therefore, pray:” We
often begin our prayers, whether the Lord’s prayer or our own, with
“Father”. Thinking carefully about ‘the
manner’ of this prayer, the selection of the words, the pattern that we are
given, we must be careful to avoid vain repetition. There is great brevity and simplicity in the
Lord’s Prayer. There also is great
profundity. We begin with the address, “Our
Father in heaven.”
Our Father in Heaven
– God is the Father of all people in one sense (Acts 17:28), revealing His
power. He is especially Father to His
elect (Eph 1:5), revealing His judicial mercy.
But it is even more evident that He is Father by His special grace and
love towards those who are born again (1 John 3:1), with hearts crying out by
the Spirit, “Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6). We
are addressing One who says He loves us as He loves His only begotten Son (John
17:23). This prayer is a privilege only
to those who are in Christ (John 1:12-13), and all others are excluded from
this prayer for God does not allow them before Him (Psalm 5:4-6).
The Character of the Name, “Father”
– What are the ultimate characteristics of the perfect father? What do children normally assume about their
fathers? There is more to be considered
in this name of God.
He is Most
Ancient (Dan 7:9) – What do kids think when they learn you were once a baby?
He is Perfect
(Matt 5:48) – The child believes his parents can do no wrong.
He is Wise (1
Tim 1:17) – Children ask their parents about everything – and expect answers.
He is Loving (1
John 4:17) – And the perfect father pours out this love upon His own (Zeph
3:17).
He is Rich (Eph
3:8) – He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and delights in giving.
He Never Dies
(1 Tim 6:16) – We do not naturally expect our father to die.
Implications of God Being ‘our Father’
– His name, “Father,” is consistent with what the Word declares He will do for
His children. Therefore, all of this
flows into the context of opening our prayer, “Our Father in heaven.”
He will teach
us - Isaiah 48:17
He is full of
affection towards us – Isaiah 43:4, Eph 3:19, 1 Pet 5:7
He is full of
sympathy towards us – Psalm 103:13, Isaiah 63:9, Zech 2:8
He will correct
us, leading us towards holiness – Heb 12:5-6
He will protect
us from the evil one – the Lord’s Prayer, and 1 Cor 10:13
He will pour
out His grace – Heb 4:16
He sends His
angels as ministers for us – Heb 1:14
He will not
withhold any good thing from us – Psalm 34:10, Rom 8:32
He makes us
heirs to all His promises – Heb 6:17
Our Response – As we pray, “Our
Father,” with all that His name implies, there are obvious implications we must
acknowledge in order to avoid our prayers being vain.
We Must Trust Him – Our salvation is in Him alone, and that by faith alone.
We Must Imitate
Him – We are to look like our Father in our good works, in our mercy, in our
forgiveness, in our hatred of sin and evil, and in our delight over that which
is true, good and beautiful.
We Must Submit
to Him – We must wait patiently to Him for His answers in His time according to
His good pleasure.
We Must Honor
Him – with childlike reverence (Mal 1:6).
We Must Obey
Him – “as obedient children” (1 Pet 1:14).
We Must Look Like Children of the Victorious King/Father – Optimistic as He is about His promised future for the world (Isaiah 11:9) as well as our own destiny (Phil 1:6).
We Must Love
His Children – Psalm 133:1, 1 Pet 2:17
Our Father in Heaven
– We must learn to pray this way and destroy the sin of autonomous
individualism rampant in today’s church.
In one sense, all of our individual prayers are never ‘individual’ for
we are always members of a body. This is
one of the reasons we will be saying (and possibly one day singing) the Lord’s
Prayer together in our service of worship
The Good of the
Family in Mind – When we pray for ourselves, as we should, we
must keep in mind that our greatest desires must include the good of the entire
body. One application suffices as an
illustration: What if God wants to use
your trials as a means to knit us together closer in sacrifice and service?
Our Father in Heaven
– The intimacy of our relationship with our Father in no way detracts from the
infinite chasm between the Creator and His creation. His majesty and glory are unending. His power and sovereignty are exhaustive and
absolute. He dwells in the realm removed
from change and decay, for He is immutable and eternal.
In Jesus’ Name
– As we studied earlier, we come in the name of Jesus to God the Father. And Christ Himself is in heaven, seated at
the right hand of God the Father. Our
approach is guaranteed in Him but that is not to say that we come in a breezy
fashion, but rather with fear and trembling (Psalm 2:11).
“Father of us, the One in the heavens”
– This address reminds us of the joy and obedience that is ours in Christ
Jesus. Meditate upon this; mutter it
upon your lips – Our Father in heaven – that the powerful love of God would get
a hold of us. And we would pray.