Sermon Series: Pray Like Jesus - The Lord’s Prayer
#1: “Our Father…”
Matthew 6:9 (KJV); John 8:18-19 (NIV)
By John Gill ~ February 26, 2023
If I were to ask you what the most repeated passage of the Bible was, what would you say? - The 23rd Psalm? John 3:16? The Golden Rule? Certainly these are all familiar passages that we repeat so often that many of us have committed them to memory. However, when you think about it, no words in the Bible are more frequently spoken than the Lord’s Prayer.
You know, we repeat the Lord’s Prayer every week in church, yet, like so many parts of our worship, we don’t really stop to think about what we are saying. But we NEED to pay close attention to this prayer, because in it we find everything we need to have a deeply profound prayer life.
And since we cannot call ourselves “Christians” unless we are serious about developing a deep prayer-life, I felt the best place to start was with the Master Teacher himself. So this morning, we are beginning a six part sermon series focusing on prayer, and most specifically, on the “model prayer” Jesus taught us.
This morning we will begin with the first phrase of the prayer, Matthew 6:9, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…” And as we consider that verse, we will be focusing our attention primarily upon the first two words – “Our Father.”
I can think of no other two words in our Bible that say more about the Christian life than these two little words, with which Jesus begins his prayer. We gloss over those words so quickly that we entirely miss their implications. This is what I want us to look at carefully this morning as we begin our study of the Lord’s Prayer.
“Our Father…” What do those two little words tell us? Plenty! Just think about them with me for a few moments.
First of all, they have something powerful to say about WHO GOD IS.
Now, we take for granted that we KNOW who God is… but do we – REALLY? When Jesus began his prayer with “Our Father,” he was saying something a little shocking. This was a radical notion for the people of his day! No, to understand this, you have to try to put yourself in the place of those ancient peoples who first encountered this prayer.
For instance, the non-Jewish peoples during those days believed in a whole host of gods and goddesses, most of whom were indifferent to the plight of mortals– or even hostile to the human race.
Let me give you a little example of this. One of the most famous Greek myths was the story of Prometheus. Prometheus stands-out in the pantheon of gods because he actually had compassion on humanity. The myth was set at the time before humans had possession of fire, and Prometheus recognized that trying to survive without fire made life for the humans very difficult and dreary. So, the legend goes, Prometheus took pity on the human race – he took fire from heaven and gave it to humans.
But Zeus, the king of the gods, was furious by what Prometheus had done. So to punish him, he chained Prometheus to a big rock in the middle of the sea and sent a vulture to tear his liver out!
That’s what the ancients believed about the nature of the gods… that the gods were jealous and vengeful – CERTAINLY nothing like the loving Father Jesus so often describes. When Jesus instructed us to address God as
“Our Father,” the pagans would have been shocked! A god who was father-like was completely alien to the pagan way of thinking.
Of course, the Jewish people to whom Jesus first spoke these words were a little different. They already had a history of referring to God as being like a father. When Jesus launched into his prayer with these two words, he was drawing upon a commonly held Jewish conception of God.
Yet, Jesus took that understanding one step further. Instead of merely referring to God as being father-like, he addressed God directly as “Father,” and instructed us to do the same! Not only is God LIKE a father, God is THE Father – of Jesus, yes – but also of you and me! This personalization of our relationship with God was completely new and unheard of.
In beginning his prayer with the words, “Our Father,” Jesus was saying that the TRUE God is NOT a vengeful god who is alienated from us. Instead, God is a personal God with whom we can be as intimate as we are with our earthly parents.
In Romans 8:15 we find these words from the pen of the Apostle Paul: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by (the Spirit) we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”
Now, “Abba” is a word that is best translated, “Daddy” or “Papa!” It’s the image of “fatherhood” I see every time I watch our son, Tim, playing with our grandson, Arthur – and see Arthur’s eyes light up when he sees his daddy. The God Jesus introduces us to is a God who loves us just as a daddy loves and cares for his children. What a REVOLUTIONARY notion!
There is an old Roman story that tells about one of the Roman Emperors returning to Rome after a great military victory. He marched his men down the broad avenues of Rome with great pomp and pageantry, leading them in his royal chariot.
As the emperor’s chariot came near to the place where the Emperor’s wife and children were seated, his little son jumped off the platform, made his way through the crowd, and ran between the legs of one of the soldiers who was holding back the crowd. The soldier stopped the boy and reprimanded him: “You can’t do that, boy. Don’t you know who that IS in the chariot? That’s the Emperor! You can’t just run out to his chariot!” The little boy laughed: “Yes I can! You see, he may be YOUR Emperor, - but he’s MY daddy!”
That’s what Jesus meant by beginning his prayer, “Our Father…” God is - not ONLY holy and almighty. He is also personal and intimate and loving – like a father whom we can approach without fear.
Yes, those two little words DO tell us a great deal about who God IS. But besides that, they tell us something about WHO YOU AND I ARE.
If it is true that God is a “Father,” then that would make every one of us here “a child of God.” Again, in Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:16-17): “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ…”
You know, it may be true that most of our sins are caused by arrogance and pride – or as the Bible puts it, “thinking of ourselves more highly that we ought to think.” But I suspect that a good number of our sins are actually born out of the opposite extreme. In some ways, “we don’t think of ourselves as highly as we ought to think.”
If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that, in many ways, we despise ourselves. - We suffer from low self-esteem. - We don’t think we really deserve to be happy. And when we suffer from the sin of a poor self-
image, that sin can manifest itself in very destructive ways – destructive to ourselves and those around us. In these first two words of his prayer, Jesus is contradicting our sense of worthless-ness.
Since God is a “Father,” then we are God’s precious children – children he created in his own image! As John wrote in his first letter (3:1), “See what love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God. For that is what we are.” A Christian’s self-worth isn’t based on his or her accomplishments or goodness. A Christian’s has self-worth based solely on the fact that she or he is a child of the King!
We as Christians need to have as healthy an attitude as Linus has in the comic strip, “Peanuts.” Linus says, “I think the world is a much better place today than it was five years ago.” Charlie Brown says, “No! How can you say that? Don’t you ever read the papers? Don’t you watch TV? The world is going to the dogs!” Linus replies, “Of COURSE the world is a better place today than it was five years ago. I’m in it now!”
Yes, when Jesus told his disciples to pray, saying “Our Father,” he was saying something truly powerful about who you and I really are: If God is our “Daddy,” then we are God’s precious children – the “apple of our Daddy’s eye” – and we are of supreme importance to him.
So these two little words tell us something powerful about ”Who God is,” and “Who we are.” But there is one more thing they reveal to us: they tell us WHO OTHERS ARE.”
It is important to notice that Jesus didn’t teach us to say “MY Father…” He said, “OUR Father…” In fact, in the Lord’s Prayer, the words “I, Me, Mine” are nowhere to be found!
If God is our Father and we are each a child of God, then that would mean that we are all brothers and sisters! And if we are all children of the SAME Heavenly Father, that has profound implications for the way we are to relate to one another.
You know, when they put out our current hymnal, they made some modifications in the wording of some songs. I know why they did it, and I supported most of the changes, because they made the wording of many of the hymns written for a previous generation more inclusive of women.
However, there is one change I have trouble singing because I believe that the new version loses the meaning of the original. The song is, “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” The new version says, “With God our CREATOR, CHILDREN all are we…” Now, that SOUNDS good – and it DOES speak to the truth that each of us is a child of God. But it doesn’t have the same meaning as the original wording, “With God as our FATHER, BROTHERS all are we…”
You see, it’s one thing to recognize that I am a child of God. It’s quite another to have to admit that OTHERS are, too – than YOU are – that we are all sisters and brothers of one another, with everything that would imply! Perhaps we should sing, “With God as our Father, SIBLINGS all are we.”
If I am a child of God and every one on earth is my brother or sister, then I am obliged to love, respect, and care for THEM, just as I love, respect, and care for MYSELF. Its back to the Golden Rule, isn’t it!
Martin Niemoeller, a Lutheran pastor in Germany during WW II, was sent to a concentration camp by the Gestapo in 1938. - He was freed by Allied Forces in 1945. After his liberation, he wrote these powerful words about who our brother or sister really is:
“In Germany,
the Nazis first came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade-unionist,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade-unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for ME
– and by that time,
there was no one left to speak up for me.”3
By telling us to begin our prayer with the words, “Our Father,” Jesus was giving us an ethic to live by – that ALL people deserve our love and care, because we ALL are brothers and sisters, - children of the same Heavenly Father.
Wow! That sure is a word we all need to hear in America today, isn’t it?
In the early turbulent days of school integration, white parents sent their first grade daughter off to school. Her mother was very anxious because of all the racial tensions. At the end of the day, she asked her daughter, “How did everything go, Honey?” “O Mother! You know what? A little black girl sat next to me!” In fear and trepidation, the mother prepared to deal with her daughter’s trauma, but tried to ask as calmly as she could, “And what happened, Dear?” The girl replied, “We were both so scared – that we held hands all day!”2
You see, we may see each other as different and strange, but Jesus is telling us that God looks on us all just the same – that you and I should see each other through the eyes of God,and treat every person with love and respect, no matter who they are or where they come from, - and that, God will hold us accountable when we fail to obey his command to love one another.
You see, I TOLD you there was power in those two little words – “Our Father:” With those two words, we learn that God is a loving and caring God who we can know intimately as a personal Father – our “daddy.” With them, we are reminded that, as a child of God, we are all persons of sacred worth to God. And with these words, we also recognize that God is not just MY Father, but the Father of ALL people, with whom we should live in love.
As Paul says in Galatians (3:26-28 NLT) - “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
If only we could learn that most basic truth, our world would be a much better place!
“OUR FATHER…” - May we pledge never to take these two little words for granted again!