Sermon on the Mount: Our Father
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Sermon on the Mount – Our Father
Matthew 6:9-13
9 Pray then like this: “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 this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
1. Introduction – Today we come to the centre point of the SM – the Lord’s Prayer.
a. It is simplistic yet complex. The words are few, but they have plenty to say.
i. If you’ll recall a couple weeks ago, we looked at Jesus’ instructions on prayer.
1. Don’t pray loud, public prayers – instead go into a locked room and pray there.
a. Don’t pray long-winded prayers – incessantly repeating the same things over and over…
i. Instead, Jesus said let your words be few…short, fervent and frequent.
b. And in the passage immediately following his instruction on prayer…Jesus gives an example of how to pray.
i. Now before we dive into the Invocation of this prayer…we need to figure out what we are to do with this prayer.
1. Is this a model prayer for us to follow or is this a prayer we are to repeat verbatim?
a. The answer, of course, is “Yes” to both.
i. In Matthew’s Gospel – Jesus says “Pray like this…”
1. And what this phrase implies is that we are to use this prayer as a model or an outline to follow.
ii. When we pray, we are to pray for these types of things and in this order.
1. And take note of this order…First, we pray for the things of God.
a. We pray for his glory to be revealed and celebrated…for his kingdom to come and for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
i. We humans are naturally selfish creatures….but this prayer stops our praying from simply us bringing our grocery list of requests before God…
1. First we focus our attention on God…on his glory, on his kingdom on his will.
a. Then in this model prayer, we secondarily move to our needs…sustenance, forgiveness and deliverance.
c. However…when we run out of words to say or we don’t quite know what to say…it is perfectly legitimate for us to simply repeat the words of this prayer.
i. Luke, in his recording of the Lord’s Prayer writes, “Pray these words…”
1. So whether we use this prayer as model to follow and we fill in our own words…
a. Or we repeat this prayer word for word…
i. We must avoid Jesus’ previous warning of mindlessly repeating the same words over and over.
d. As you’ll see over the next 7 or 8 weeks – this prayer is profound.
i. Yes, these are simple phrases…simple petitions.
1. But as we’ll see as progress, they are deep.
a. Hear God’s Word – Matthew 6:9-13.
i. Here’s what we’ll do today…very simple plan.
2. We are going to examine every word of this opening phrase.
a. Our…Father…in heaven…
i. Each word is important…not a single word is filler.
2. Our – We’ll start with the first word of the prayer…Our.
a. Seems like a fairly innocuous word on the surface…but a hugely important word.
i. In fact…notice throughout the prayer all the plural pronouns.
1. Our Father…give us...forgive us…lead us…deliver us…
a. What this word “our”…and the subsequent plural pronouns remind us is that prayer is not simply performed in splendid isolation.
ii. It is a communal exercise…it is a communal experience.
1. You aren’t simply praying to your God for your needs for your kingdom and your will….
a. For your forgiveness or your deliverance.
i. But as a whole…as a community…we are praying to our Father…for our needs, our forgiveness…and our deliverance.
b. It’s like when we studied the Apostles’ Creed…and I’m going to reference the Apostles’ Creed quite a bit this morning…
i. The Creed doesn’t begin…I believe in God the Father Almighty…I believe in Jesus Christ his holy Son, our Lord…I believe in the Holy Spirit…
1. Not what it says….like the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed is a communal affirmation of our shared beliefs.
a. We believe in God the Father Almighty…We believe in Jesus Christ…we believe in the Holy Spirit.
ii. The plurals remind us that Christianity is not a life that is lived alone.
1. It’s not an isolationists life…but one that is lived alongside like-minded believers with whom we choose to do life with.
a. I recognize that this last year has tested this aspect of our faith.
i. How can we pray “Our Father…” and say “We believe…” when we haven’t gathered for over a year?
2. If this past year has taught me anything, it’s taught me about what it means to belong to a church community.
a. Those that gather around their screens are just as important to our church as those who gather in person.
i. Is gathering around a screen ideal? Absolutely not! Is it better than nothing??? Absolutely!
1. Even in a pandemic where restrictions are in place and limits on gathering sizes are enforced…
a. We can still share a communal experience…
b. Each in our own homes can pray “Our Father…” and it is still a shared experience.
c. And we can feel our whole church community praying with us…praying the words of this prayer together…
i. Reciting the Creed…affirming the central tenets of our faith.
3. Father – Our…reminds us that we are not alone in this life.
a. We aren’t on this journey alone, but we journey with a family who loves us and has our well-being in mind.
i. But at the beginning of this prayer, Jesus reminds us who it is we are praying to.
1. And Jesus teaches us how to address him. Not with grandiose titles and superlative after superlative…
a. But with a simple and intimate term of endearment…Father.
b. Now to us…this is a familiar title.
i. If you’ve grown up in church, you’ve been taught your whole life to address God this way.
1. Father…Jesus teaches his followers what name to call God.
a. This has been taught to us so much…that maybe we get a little too chummy with God and forget about all his other attributes.
ii. But during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry…Israel was the exact opposite. They weren’t too chummy with God…they were so aware of his holiness…so aware of his transcendence that the thought of calling God “Father” was absurd.
1. Here’s what we need to know about Jesus’ original audience.
a. They had many names for God. They knew God’s name…he revealed it to Moses…YHWH…the Lord, the Lord, gracious and merciful, slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
i. They were God’s people and God was their God….
1. But they never used God’s name…it was too sacred…too holy…
a. They never even fully spelled it out…simply writing the letter’s YHWH…
b. Instead of calling God YHWH they referred to him by a different title…Adonai…
i. Or, they simply referred to him as “the name.”
c. And it is in to this culture, into this society that Jesus said, “Don’t address as the name…” Don’t be afraid to address him…
i. In fact, you can come to him with the first word you learned…”Abba” in Aramaic…Dad…Father.
1. Can you imagine the trepidation the early disciples must have felt the first time they called God Father?
a. For us its old hat…but for them…they would have aware of the immense privilege it is to be able to call God “Father.”
i. This sense of privilege…this sense of awe towards God is something that is sadly missing in a lot of churches…and it is something we need to regain today.
d. Think about who we come before…God…Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
i. God…who parted the Red Sea…sustained his people in the wilderness for 40 years.
1. Who knocked a city’s walls down…who healed the sick, raised the dead…gave his people countless provisions…
a. God, who sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins and raised him up again to new life…
i. God…who will one day make all things new…
1. This is our God…and we can come in to his presence anytime and anywhere…
a. And we can come to him…not with song and dance and long-winded superlatives…but we can come to him and call him Father.
i. What a privilege.
4. How? – But how can God be our Father?
a. How is it that we can rightfully come before God and address him with this title?
i. How? Through the process of adoption!
1. Nowhere is adoption more clearly explained than in Ephesians 1:5-8. Hear these incredible words.
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
a. Through the process of adoption – because of Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf…those who come to God in faith in Jesus’ saving work on the cross…
i. Not only are they saved from their sins…
1. But they area also adopted into God’s family…they become a son of God…a daughter of God.
b. But what kind of father is God?
i. Fatherhood is a very difficult subject.
1. In many ways we are rapidly moving towards a fatherless society.
a. Good fathers are becoming hard to find.
i. Fathers are either non-existent in the home…or if they are home they are busy doing their own thing ad not paying attention to their children.
1. We are in desperate need in our society for men to be men…for men to step up and lead their families.
c. But God is an altogether different kind of Father.
i. It may be hard for you to think about God as Father because of your relationship with your earthly father…
1. But your heavenly Father is different.
a. What kind of Father is he? Well, Jesus answers this question in the parable of the prodigal son.
i. And this parable is tragically misnamed…because the parable isn’t about the son at all…
1. The parable is really about the Father. And what does this parable tell us about the Father, our Father…about God?
ii. He’s not bitter, jade and cynical…even when he is wronged.
1. When we come to him in humble repentance, he doesn’t make us beg, plead or grovel…
a. In fact, and I love this phrase, while the son was still a long ways off…
i. Isn’t that a great picture…the son didn’t have it altogether – yes, he had a speech prepared, but he didn’t even make it on to the property yet….
1. He hadn’t put his past behind…he was still a ways off
2. Even still…while the son still had a ways to go…the Father ran out to meet him.
a. Not waiting for the son to make it all the way back.
i. The father didn’t make the son earn familial status again…but freely gave it to him…lavished him with gifts and threw a party in his honour.
3. That’s the kind of Father God is…loving, gracious, merciful, generous.
a. The kind of Father who runs out to meet us on our journey back to him.
i. We don’t have to have it all together – because God runs out to meet us while we’re still on the road.
d. So no matter what your earthly father is like or was like…
i. No matter your relationship with your earthly father…
1. Know that this Father…and as we’ll see in a second…who is in heaven…
a. Know that he will never abandon you…ignore your or abuse you.
i. But he will always be right there beside your as a perfect example of fatherhood.
1. What a privilege it is to call God…Father.
5. In heaven – And in case we are tempted to get too chummy with God…Jesus reminds us of this…
a. God is our Father…who is in heaven.
i. We are reminded at the beginning of this incredible prayer both of God’s nearness as our Father…but also of his transcendent power.
1. Once again, we learned about this when we studied the Apostles’ Creed a few years back.
a. The first line says, “We believe in God the Father…” but then it continues…
i. The Father – Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
ii. What an incredibly balanced statement. Same with the opening line of the Lord’s Prayer.
1. Yes, God is our Father.
a. And because he is our father, we don’t have impress him in order to get him to listen to us…
i. We don’t have to ramble on and on in order to get his attention.
1. Because he is the perfect example of fatherhood…God is a willing listener…
a. And because he is our Father he is a generous giver.
i. He wants to give his children good gifts.
b. When we ask for bread, he doesn’t give us stones…
b. But at the same time…Our Father is in heaven.
i. That means he is transcendent…completely and wholly different than you or me.
1. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent…
a. He is Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth…
i. And he is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think.
c. Think about just this first line of this prayer…it’s audacious. Think about it…we come to the Almighty creator of heaven and earth…
i. And we can come to him like a child comes to his or her father.
1. We can come to him with our needs, our cares, our concerns….and we know that he will listen to us.
a. He wants to listen to us.
i. We don’t address him in this way to butter him up, but to show the closeness of the relationship we have with him.
1. Our Father…but remember that he is in heaven.
6. Conclusion – When you pray…go into the secret place…pray simply and succinctly .
a. Pray like this or pray these words…
i. But don’t ever mindlessly repeat them, because each word…each petition is drenched in meaning.
1. When you pray – remember who you are praying to.
a. And come in full confidence…you are addressing God in heaven…but far from being afraid or hesitant to use his name…
i. Jesus tells us followers to use a term of endearment…Father.
b. Come to God…and call him Father. What a privilege.