OUR FATHER
The Real Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 14 viewsThe Fatherhood of God fuels fervent and faithful prayer.
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Our Father informs our access.
Our Father informs our access.
When you approach anyone, whether you know it or not (and most of the time we don’t know it), you make implicit assumptions about the basis on which you’re approaching that person. When you approach anyone for an exchange, anyone for an interaction, anyone for a give and take, you have to have some basis on which you’re approaching that person. Intuitively, the basis determines the level of the exchange.
Jesus Christ is showing us here that fundamentally there are only two basic ways you go to God. When we think about this, these are the same two basic ways we deal with each other. What are those two ways? Most relationship can be categorized as business or blood. In a business relationship, the basis is “I have something for you.” In a family relationship, the basis is “What I am to you.” In a business relationship, the basis is performance. You perform for me; I perform for you. In a family relationship, the basis is a commitment.
There are two different ways you can live in somebody’s house. You can live in somebody’s house as a boarder or as blood. A business relationship is a conditional one. A family relationship is unconditional. The business relationship is based on what you have … performance. A family relationship is based on what I am. One is conditional; one is unconditional. One has to do with your doing; one has to do with your being. The business relationship says “if you perform you’ll be accepted”. The family relationship says “since you’re accepted you should perform”.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Jesus says, “You can either approach God on a business or blood basis.” The words of Jesus prior to the Lord’s prayer teach us how to know if our approach is business or blood. Business prayers or pagan prayers are filled with many empty phrases. The word for many at the end of
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
He says, “You will babble, and your words will be many.” These are kind of interesting, these two. In the Old King James Bible it says, “They heap up empty phrases, and they think they will be heard for their vain repetitions.” If you do a little bit of digging … Obviously those words have various nuances. In the 1984 New International Version it says, “When you pray, don’t keep babbling. They think they’ll be heard because of their many words.” Babbling is a Greek word that means empty words. The word many at the end of the sentence is a word that means anxious.
Matthew 5:7He says, “You will babble, and your words will be many.” These are kind of interesting, these two. In the Old King James Bible it says, “They heap up empty phrases, and they think they will be heard for their vain repetitions.” If you do a little bit of digging … Obviously those words have various nuances. In the 1984 New International Version it says, “When you pray, don’t keep babbling. They think they’ll be heard because of their many words.” Babbling is a Greek word that means empty words. The word many at the end of the sentence is a word that means anxious.
is a word that mean anxious.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
How do you know whether your prayers are pagan or Christian? How do you response when your prayers are not answered? Pagan respond with anger or anxiety. Anger says; “I’ve upheld my part now give me what I requested.” Anxiety say; “I’ve not upheld my part therefore I’m getting what I deserve.” Either response proves that your relationship with God is the business/boarder kind. At a fundamental level your relationship with God is a business one. It’s based on your performance and his. You have your duties; he has his duties. Don’t you see the difference? A religious person says, “God, come into my life. Be my landlord. I’ll do my part and you do yours.” A Christian is someone who says, “God, come into my life. Be my Father. I am not worthy of your favor, but Jesus Christ has lived the life I should have lived and died the death I should have died, and as a result, on the basis of what he has done, be my Father.”
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Babbling is a word that means empty, cold, impersonal, mechanical. We’re not talking about eloquence here or articulation. Is your prayer life anxious, cold, impersonal, mechanical, or warm, confident, loving, and personal? Is your relationship with God that of a boarder or that of blood? Do you see why this is so absolutely critical? Jesus does not start the Lord’s Prayer, “Our King,” though he is. He doesn’t start the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Creator,” though he is. In fact, he doesn’t even start the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Friend.” Do you know why? Because even friendship is a hybrid of business and family. When you get to a friend, even friendship is based to a great degree on your performance.
“Our Father,” those two little words control your relationship with God. Jesus use of “Our Father” is emphasizing the essences of what it means to be a Christian. Jesus teaches us the process of salvation; “you must be born again”. Paul teaches us the position of salvation; “you have been adopted”. We are born again because we are in need of a new nature. We are adopted because we are in need of a new name. We are brought in through the new birth. We are kept through adoption.
We have access through adoption.
We have access through adoption.
Adoption is not the result of the child’s efforts. The child, in many cases, doesn’t even seek this, doesn’t even know what’s going on hardly. Adoption is an act of the father. The minute you adopt a child, the essential change is not one of behavior or nature; it’s a status change. It’s a legal change.
What does that mean? It means the father legally adopts the child and says, “Now you are no longer someone whom I send home if you misbehave. You’re here whether you misbehave or not.” When you adopt somebody, do you know what you’re doing? You’re legally saying, “I promise to regard you with all of the commitment and all of the love and the acceptance I would my natural child.”
When you’re adopted, the Father says, “I love you, and I accept you, and I’m as committed to you as I am committed to my own Son, because you are now my sons and daughters.” Do you understand that? You must saturate yourself with the fact that you have been legally adopted by God’s act, not by your act; that he is as committed to you as he is to his own natural Son.”
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Is your prayer life anxious, cold, impersonal, mechanical, or warm, confident, loving, personal? Is your relationship with God that of a boarder or that of a child? Do you see why this is so absolutely critical? Jesus does not start the Lord’s Prayer, “Our King,” though he is. He doesn’t start the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Creator,” though he is. In fact, he doesn’t even start the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Friend.” Do you know why? Because even friendship … Friendship, I think, is a kind of hybrid between business and family. When you get to a friend, even friendship is based to a great degree on your performance.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Basis of Prayer; “Our Father”
You must saturate yourself with the fact that you have been legally adopted by God’s act, not by your act; that he is as committed to you as he is to his own natural Son.”
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Our Father instructs our attitude.
Our Father instructs our attitude.
Prayer is about approach not aptitude.
Prayer is about approach not aptitude.
Prayer is about asking not acquisition.
Prayer is about asking not acquisition.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Jesus knows what we need therefore prayer must not be about acquisition. I know what you Bible readers are thinking. Doesn’t James say
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
If Jesus teaches us that prayer is about asking not acquisition and James tells us that we have not acquired because we have not asked. God has ordained the end; “I know what you need” and he has ordained the means “you must ask to acquire”. Acquisition is the response of our asking not the reason for our asking. Asking Our Father for what he knows we need stirs our affection for Him.
It was your Lord who put an end to long-windedness, so that you would not pray as if you wanted to teach God by your many words. Piety, not verbosity, is in order when you pray, since He knows your needs. Now someone perhaps will say: ‘But if He knows our needs, why should we sate our requests even in a few words? Why should we pray at all? Since He knows, let Him give what He deems necessary for us.’ Even so, He wants you to pray so that He may confer His gifts on one who really desires them and will not regard them lightly. - Saint Augustine
Our Father knows that pagan prayers pursue possessions while the prayers of His people are a pursuit to possess Him. True prayer is not asking the Father for what we want but asking Him what He wants. Prayers primary purpose is not to get from Our Father but to get more of Our Father.
Prayer’s aim is not acquisition it’s dependence.
Prayer deepens our dependence.
Prayer deepens our dependence.
At the end of verse seven Jesus uses the phrase “many words” to speak of anxiety. Anxious prayers are devoid of dependence. They reveal a heart not resting in the Fatherhood of God. Prayer strips anxiety of its power because it is an act of weakness. If Scripture had not commanded us to pray our very weakness would have suggested it. If you believe you are too strong to pray then consider Jesus. No one was stronger and yet no one prayed more. Prayer is our declaration of dependence!
Prayer is not so much submitting our needs to Our Father but submitting ourselves to Him. Prayer is the most tangible expression of trust in God. Prayer puts Our Father’s work in his hands and keeps it there.
A prayerful heart and an obedient heart will learn, very slowly and not without sorrow, to stake everything on God Himself. Elisabeth Elliot
Father, what you will, where you will, when you will.
Father, what you will, where you will, when you will.
Saint Augustine “Remove from prayer much speaking, not much praying.
Lord, we know not what is good for us. You know what it is. For it we pray."
Prayer is about delight not duty.
Prayer is about delight not duty.
Our Father alleviates my anxiety in prayer.
Our Father alleviates my anxiety in prayer.
How do we break free from duty? Duty is often cold and mechanical. Duty is often accomplished through conformity to cultural pressures. Only love can bring about the death of duty. Meditating on the Father’s love for us will fan the flame of our of affections.
We are in possession of the greatest love letter ever written. A letter consisting of action not articulation. A letter using words as a mere tool to communicate a way of life unseen yet one our suspicion believed existed. Let’s us break free of duty because our relationship is not one built on business but the precious blood the Lamb.
Our Father amplifies my assurance in prayer.
Our Father amplifies my assurance in prayer.
Prayer should not be regarded "as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty. E.M. Bounds
Our Father initiates our asking.
Our Father initiates our asking.
Ask anything
Ask anything
Answered prayer is not an indication of our merit but Our Father’s mercy. Don’t you dare limit your Father in your asking or His answering. Our Father answers prayer in the best way—not just sometimes, but every time. Things happen which would not happen without prayer.
The richness of God’s Word ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart.
Believe boldly
Believe boldly
Prayer can do anything that God can do. There is nothing to big to ask of him. It is God’s business to decide if it is good for me.
It is my business to obey him. Prayer does not enable us to do a greater work for God. Prayer is a greater work for God. Believe boldly but never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer.
God has declared the end from the beginning (). Our Father commands us to pray for it is the means which brings about the end. Prayer is a partnership with God in His planet-sized purposes.
Continue Contently
Continue Contently
God's silences are His answers. If we only take as answers those that are visible to our senses, we are in a very elementary condition of grace. Keep praying, but be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your prayers!
Rest yourself in the Fatherhood of God.
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;
or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”