Our Father in Heaven
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Greg Waybright
- Galatians 3:26-4:7 & Ephesians 3:14-19
- Praying for Reign
- 32 mins 40 secs
- Views: 995
Small Group Questions
Read Matthew 6:7-13
- The church has developed many different forms of Christian prayer throughout its history. Reflect on your personal prayer life. How have your prayers changed over time? What remains the same?
- In verse 7 Jesus cautions us against overly wordy prayers. Why might someone feel the need to pray in this way? What does this sort of practice say about what we believe about God?
- Jesus says that God knows what we need before we ask him. Why then, is prayer important? What do we believe is happening when we pray?
- The opening of Jesus' prayer calls God our Father in heaven. How is God like a good father? In what ways does God surpass the limitations and shortcomings of own fathers?
- How might God be inviting you to draw closer to your heavenly Father in prayer? Are there any ways you can experiment with prayer during this Lenten season?
Study Notes
Praying for Reign: Our Father in Heaven
Matthew 6:7-13
This is the first weekend of Lent -- so I want to start the season by telling you what is on my heart: I am longing for us all to grow deeper and more intimate in our daily experiences of God. As I’ve been meditating on this, I have become more and more convinced of one simple truth, i.e., that the key to us experiencing God more fully is prayer. We still have a lot to learn about prayer.
It’s clear to me that the early followers of Jesus knew that they needed to learn to pray. So, one day, the first disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, teach us to pray (Lk 11:1).” I cannot imagine anyone who might teach us about prayer better than Jesus. Because of that, over the next six weekends of Lent 2018, we will be taking the course in prayer that Jesus provided.
Even as I say it that way, I am hit by the fact that what Jesus did was not like the kinds of courses I’ve taken or taught over the years. Jesus’s response to the disciples’ question did not contain all the requirements for passing the course that I include in a college course syllabus. Jesus didn’t even tell us specifically what to pray. Instead, he said, “When you pray…, this is how you should pray.” Or, “This is what prayer should be like.” In doing so, Jesus provided a flexible pattern or framework for all our prayers. I love how Bishop Hugh Latimer, who was killed for his faith wrote over 450 years ago, “Jesus’s prayer is the sum and model for all other prayers. All other prayers are contained within and flow from what is found in the Lord’s prayer.”
If he is right about that – and I think he is -- then I am convinced that learning from Jesus’s prayer holds the promise of being able to change your prayer life – of helping you live day by day in loving relationship to God.
When Jesus gave us this prayer, he chose his words very carefully. And, we will seek to be equally careful this Lent season to listen to Jesus’s words and to learn from them. Of course, in the time we have in our services, we will not be able to deal with every matter that Jesus’s prayer suggests. Because of that, let me recommend a book to you 
Today, let’s consider these words: “This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven.” The foundational point I want you to grasp is that prayer is a family conversation. Let’s start with the word “Father”.
“Father” When we acknowledge upfront that God is our Father, we will discover that doing so changes everything about the rest of our prayer.
God was only referred to as “father” 14 times in the entire Old Testament. When it happened, the word father was used in a less personal way than we find Jesus teaching us to do. Before Jesus, God’s people occasionally spoke of Jehovah as the father of the nation or the father of creation. But, nowhere in the Bible, before Jesus, do we find God called “our Father” as a part of a personal relationship to him. Jesus called God “Father” 60 times, and frequently, he did so when he prayed. It’s clear that Jesus saw the personal fatherhood of God as the beginning point of Christian prayer. So, I want to start where Jesus started.
When Jesus prayed to God the Father, he was the first to use the more intimate term “Abba” when he addressed God. This was the word his first disciples picked up from him to begin their prayers. And, because it is the way Jesus taught his followers to pray, it has been the main way of entering into prayer by our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout history. Jesus alone was the “eternal, begotten son” of God as we know from John 3:16. But Jesus, through his death on our behalf, has made it possible for us to enter into God’s presence as adopted children. You and I too know God as our “Abba” as Jesus did.
What Difference Does Praying to God as Father Make?
#1: Intimacy – Know that God cares about you and loves you even more that you care about yourself. You can pour out your heart to him.
Many religions seem to practice prayer as an impersonal way to get their deity to do what they want it to do. That’s what Jesus takes on in v.7: “When you pray, do not keep talking on and on. That is what people do when they do not know God. They think they will be heard because they talk a lot. Do not be like them (NIRV).”
Jesus was aware that many religious people use many words or magic incantations to try to manipulate supernatural powers to give them what they want. But, to do so is to treat God as an impersonal force rather than as a person. So, Jesus taught us that you and I are to relate to God as a child does to a father. Look at his beautiful words in v.8: Do not be like those who do not God. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him.
Sometimes, I think churchgoers are inclined to pray the way others do as if piling up more prayers, longer prayers, more emotional prayers might make God love us and care about us more. So, when you pray, begin by knowing that you are speaking to your Father, the one who knows you and loves you.
#2: Reverence – Honor God’s name, seek his kingdom, and desire his will rather than your own.
When you read the Lord’s Prayer, you quickly see that Jesus teaches us to start with God’s glory before moving to our good. In vv. 9-10, he told us to long for three ways putting God first in all things: 1) May God’s name be recognized as holy. 2) May God’s kingdom come, i.e., may he take control and bring about the peace and justice he alone can bring. 3) May God’s will be done – in our world, in Pasadena, and in our lives.
The Lord’s Prayer is not so much a prayer about getting what we want – though we surely are to speak with our Father about our needs and desires. It is much more a prayer about bending our wants toward what God wants. It is not natural for us to want someone else’s will to be done. By nature, we want our own ways.
And, let me say something here about this word Jesus called his Father, i.e., Abba. Many have spoken of how the name “Abba” denoted the relationship of a little child to its father. That’s true. However, Abba was also the word that adults used for their fathers. It’s almost certainly the word Jesus used when he spoke to his earthly father, Joseph, in the family carpenter’s shop. I called my father “Dad” both as a child and as an adult. It was a word that denoted my intimate relationship with him. But, it was and is also a word of respect for me. Indeed, it became more and more so the older I got and the more I got to know him.
I think we all have a deep longing for there to be the kind of Abba that Jesus says God is. We feel it profoundly when we feel threatened in any way. Jesus lived in this world and he knew how often people in this world feel fear or anxiety. He knew about those times in which we long to have someone who cares, someone who knows us and loves us enough to put his arm on our shoulder and say, “Don’t worry. I am with you. I know where the dangerous places are and where the abusers lie ready to ambush. I will be with you.”
Jesus says, “I have come to introduce you to an “Abba”, one who knows you by your first name, who wants you to tell him all things that bother you, both great and small. Jesus taught us that, when we say “our Father”, we will find there is actually a caring ear hearing us and a voice ready to answer us. I think there is a deep yearning inside every human being for this to be so. Jesus tells us that this is the way God is.
We live in a world of shootings, sickness, battles and failures. Jesus is saying, “Everything you fret about is something my Father and your Father knows about. If God did not care, I would not be here among you, would I? The Father has sent me into the midst of your sin and sorrows because he loves you. He wants you to know that failure is not the end of your life. Sickness cannot rob you of anything that is eternal. He sent me so that you will know that even death has been defeated. He knows all this for he is your Abba.”
This is what we remember at Lent, i.e., that Jesus came sent by our Father and walked the path of suffering out of love for us. He suffered and died for us ultimately to remove all that causes pain and sorrow. He said, “The one who sees me sees the Father.” Jesus came to make us alive to the Father.
“Our Father” The “our-ness” of Jesus’s prayer shouts out to us: “Give us…” “Forgive us…” Lead us not…” Jesus calls us together in this imperfect word to pray with and for one another.
Those who have prayed and who now pray the Lord’s Prayer are very different from one another. Here at LAC, we celebrate the fact that before God is finished with his work, our global family will include all races and ethnicities, all nations and languages on earth. Indeed, the fact that God brings so many of those national origins, first languages, and people groups into our local church family is one reason why we commemorate things like “Spring Festival” in the way we do. What is important to some of us becomes important to all of us because we are a part of God’s family. In the Lord’s Prayer, we discover that, cutting across all our differences, we all are a part one single family fellowship. So, let me say it clearly to you today: We are all children of our Father in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus calls us together into this local church in the midst of this imperfect world for many reasons – but one of them is to pray together. We are to pray with one another and for one another. For what?
For Daily Provision – “Give us today our daily bread.” We’re supposed to intercede on behalf of those in our church family who are going through tough times financially. So, in prayer, we bring our own needs to God – but we also pray for others. And you should note this: I’ve found that, when we pray for others, we discover that we’re often the ones through whom God provides for the people we’re praying for.
For Daily Pardon -- “Forgive us our sins.” Some sins are not known by others in the church though no sin is fully private. In ways we often cannot discern, our “private sins” affect all those around us, including our church family. So, sometimes, we acknowledge that there are such hidden wrongs among us and ask for God’s forgiveness. What are ours? Greed? Prejudice? Envy?
And, as always in the Bible, Jesus says that the surest way to know we have experienced forgiveness is that forgive people always forgive others. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” Jesus’ point is that the family of God is to be a grace-filled people forgiving one another. This was so important to him that he followed his pray with these words in 6:14-15: Forgive other people when they sin against you. If you do, your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive the sins of other people, your Father will not forgive your sins.
For Daily Protection -- “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This part of Jesus’s prayer is a plea for victory over temptation as well as for protection from the effects of the evil that permeates our world. It’s a prayer something like this: “Keep us from sin, Lord, and protect us from Satan and all the evil that he and this fallen world would seek to do to us, your children.”
So, Jesus taught us to pray together with our church family. And, as you know, now we have means that make it possible to communicate to others that we praying for them: social media, texting, even telephone! Is there a brother or sister in Christ now whom you know is struggling with a great trial – or is in the midst of temptation. Take time even now to pray for them. If you can. let them know when you are praying for them. God has brought us together into this family to pray for one another. We pray, “Our Father.”
“Our Father in Heaven” God is not the same as earthly fathers. He is the blueprint of what a father should be.
Now, I have to speak of some issues that come to our minds in this 21st C world when we read the Lord’s Prayer. The first is that many, many who are in church today have not had good experiences with your fathers on earth. The second has to do with how we are seeing that so many men in our society abuse the authority that we often have been given, authority such as that of a father in a family. I dare not ignore the seemingly countless reports of men in power who have abused the authority roles that we often have. I cannot preach this message into our world without acknowledging that.
So, let me tell you that when Jesus tells us to speak to God as “Father”, he is not saying that he expects us always to relate to God as we do to our biological fathers. There are two words in his prayer that show us that, i.e., the words “in heaven”. God alone is the perfect Father and he alone is the Father of this entire family of God that we enter into when we trust Jesus as Savior. Jesus said this clearly in Mt 23:9: “Call no one your Father on earth, for you together have one Father – the One in heaven.”
God alone shows us what perfect fatherhood should be about. Thinking about this issue more broadly: Every part of our lives falls short of the glory of God. When I compare any part of my life to Jesus, the image of God in which I have been made, I know I still fall short. So too, as a father I fall short. All fathers do to some degree. But, when we come to Christ, we seek to grow to become conformed to God’s image in which we are made. Even the best fathers have a lot of growing to do. And, many need complete repentance and remaking.
We should not be surprised when people in general – and fathers on earth in particular – fall short of the glory of our Father in heaven. What you long for in a relationship to a father is that he will love and care for you, forgive you, never give up on you, and never leave you. This is the relationship you enter into when you come alive to God through faith in Jesus as your Father, your Father in heaven.
So, it may be that, if you have a challenging relationship to your father on earth, you may have a deeper longing than others for the kind of father your Father in heaven is. It may therefore be that you will be even more grateful than others when you meet him. You will be grateful to experience that he will not abuse you but bless you. He will not shame you but show you grace. He will not abandon you but will be with you always. He will not be taken from you by sickness or death for he is over all those evils. And he loves you with an everlasting love.
When we all fall before God as Abba in heaven, we are really saying that our ultimate allegiance is to him and him alone! We are saying that our ultimate identity is in the fact that we are his children – even above our human families and national citizenship. We call him our Abba. And because of that, we look around our church today and call one another brother or sister even when we have not met one another before.
So, Jesus taught, that’s where prayer begins, i.e., with “our Father in heaven”. The main thing in prayer is not that we can find a way to get what we want but that we get the very thing we most need, i.e., a personal relationship to God. In prayer, we enter into confidently and intimately into relationship with our Maker. We come to him and discover that the Creator of heaven and earth is our Father, our Father in heaven.
Chinese Study Notes
國度的祈禱: 我們在天上的父
馬太福音 6:7-13
今天是復活節前40天（Lent）的第一個週末，我要告訴你們我心中所想的：我盼望在日常生活中，我們都能與神更親近，有更深入的關係。我為此禱告，也越來越清楚一個簡單的道理：更多經歷神的秘訣就是禱告。關於禱告，我們還有許多要學習的。
耶穌早期的門徒知道他們要學習禱告，於是有一天問耶穌說：“主啊，求你教我們禱告（路11：1）”。我知道耶穌是教導我們禱告的最佳之人，因此在接下來Lent的六個週末，我們將學習耶穌所教導我們的禱告。
我知道耶穌所做的與我多年所學所教的課程不盡相同，他回應門徒的不是大學課程裡要通過考試的種種要求，他甚至沒有告訴我們特別的禱告內容，耶穌說：“你們禱告的時候，要說。。。”換句話，“你們要這樣禱告。。。”他其實為我們的禱告提供了一個範本。我喜歡450年前殉道的主教西斯.拉提莫的話，他說：“耶穌的禱告是一切禱告的總結和楷模，所有其它的禱告都包含在其中，都洋溢在其中”。
他是對的，我確信學習主禱文會幫助我們持守應許，改變生命，每天增進與神的關係。
耶穌是很仔細教導我們禱告的，我們也要很仔細地學習，儘管我們不可能在聚會的時間中一一瞭解，因此我建議大家看一本書:
今天我們只看這一句：“你們禱告的時候，要說：我們在天上的父”。這裡的要點是仿佛一個家庭對話，我們就以“父”來開始。
“父”當我們承認神是我們的父時，我們就看見接下來的禱告有許多不同。
在舊約聖經，只有14次將神稱為“父”，而且不像主禱文中個人性的稱謂。在耶穌之前，神的子民很少說耶和華是一國之父或創造之父；我們也看不見什麼地方有“我們的父”這種關係描述。而耶穌稱“父”有60次，他在禱告中常常這樣開始，他認為與神的個人關係是基督徒禱告的開始，所以我也這樣開始吧。
當耶穌向父神禱告的時候，他使用了“阿爸”來稱呼神。他的首批門徒也這樣開始禱告。正因為這是主禱文的教訓，所以歷史上基督徒都是這樣做的。約翰福音3：16節說耶穌是神的獨生子，而耶穌透過他為我們受死，使我們能作為被揀選的兒女來到神面前。你我都和耶穌一樣承認神是“阿爸”。
我們禱告時把神當作父有什麼不同？
#1: 親密 –知道神愛你、看顧你比你對自己更好，你可以向他傾心吐意。
許多宗教的禱告是沒有情感的，奉神的名做自己想做的事，所以耶穌在7節說：“你們禱告的時候，不要像外邦人那樣，重複無意義的話。他們以為話多了就蒙垂聽。
耶穌注意到不少宗教使用許多重複的話，甚至咒語去召喚超自然的能力做自己想做的，不把神當作一個有情感的神。但耶穌說你我與神的關係是子女與父的關係，看8節多麼美：不要像他們那樣，因為在你們祈求以前，你們的父就已經知道你們有什麼需要了。
有時來教會的人也傾向於像別人那樣用長篇禱告，帶情感的禱告希望神會愛我們、看顧我們多一點，但我們禱告時一定要知道是在和我們的父親說話，他愛我們，並知道我們的需要。
#2: 尊崇– 尊崇神的名，尋求他的國，渴慕他勝過愛自己。
當你讀主禱文時，很快發現耶穌把神的榮耀放在所求的一切好處之前，在9-10節，他要我們先求神的國和他的旨意 1）願他的名被尊為聖 2）願他的國來臨，願他將自己的平安和公義帶來 3）願他的旨意成就，在世界，在Pasadena, 在我們生命中。
主禱文並非是羅列我們想要的，儘管我們確實告訴天父我們的需要和盼望；但它更是一個讓我們的想法轉換成神的想法的禱告，因為我們自然而然不會求別人的意思成就，只會求自己的意思成就。
我要說說耶穌稱呼父親阿爸。許多人談到阿爸是小孩子與父親的關係，不錯，但阿爸也是成人與父親的關係用語。幾乎肯定耶穌也這樣稱他地上的父親，木匠約瑟。我在小時候和長大後都叫父親 “Dad”, 表達的是與父親的親密關係，也是對他的敬語。事實上，我越長大認識父親越多。
我想我們都深深渴望我們有耶穌稱阿爸這樣的父神，特別是當我們受到威脅時。耶穌在世上生活過，他知道人常常擔驚受怕，他知道我們需要有人看顧我們、認識我們、愛我們，用他的手撫摸我們的肩膀說：“別擔心，我在這裡，我知道哪裡有危險，哪裡有埋伏，但我與你同在”。
耶穌說，我來把這位阿爸介紹給你，他知道你的名字並願意你把大小一切的擔憂告訴他。耶穌教導我們禱告時說“我們的父”，我們就會感到有真實關懷的耳在聆聽，有真實的聲音在回應我們。我想這就是每個人內心深處的渴望；耶穌說，神就是這樣的天父。
我們生活在一個充滿槍擊、疾病、戰爭、破敗的世界，耶穌說：你擔心的每件事，我的父，也是你的父都知道；若是神不關心，我就不會在你們當中了。父愛你們，差我進入你們的罪與憂。他要你們知道，失敗不是你們的宿命；疾病奪不走永恆的東西。他差我是讓你們知道，甚至死亡也被擊敗了。他知道你的一切，因為他是你的阿爸。”
這就是我們在Lent要記得的，耶穌受父差遣，歷經苦路是因愛我們的緣故，他為我們受苦受死卻終極性地挪去了痛苦悲傷。他說：“見到我就是看見父了”。耶穌來使我們能向著神而活。
“我們的父” 主禱文中的“我們”對我們說話：“賜給我們”，“赦免我們”，“不叫我們”等等，耶穌要我們一起禱告，彼此禱告。
我們所禱告的即便是主禱文也會因人而異。在我們教會，我們慶祝因著神的救贖大功，包括各種族、國家、語言的世界大家庭能相聚在地方教會，所以我們也慶祝春節。因我們是神的家庭成員，我們都是重要的。主禱文超越了一切不同，把我們帶到一起，因此：我們因著信耶穌都成為了天父的兒女。
耶穌要我們在不完美的世界進入教會有許多原因，其中一個就是一起禱告，並為彼此禱告。禱告什麼呢？
為著每天的供應 – “求你賜給我們今日的食糧.”
我們要為教會中財務有需要的肢體代禱。在禱告中，既將自己的需要告訴神，也要彼此代禱，這樣我們就看到我們常常是神所使用的祝福他人的器皿。
為著每天的赦免-- “免我們的罪.”
沒有一個罪是完全個人性的，但還有些隱藏的罪，我們常常不能覺察，我們“個人的罪”會影響到群體，包括我們教會大家庭。我們必須意識到隱而未現的問題並求神赦免。我們覺察到了麼？貪婪、偏見、嫉妒等等都是罪。
聖經中，耶穌說若你要確切經歷赦免，就饒恕別人吧，常常饒恕別人。“免我們的罪如同我們饒恕得罪我們的人”，耶穌要我們在神的家裡充滿對人的恩典，這點很重要，他接著在6：14-15節說：“要知道，你們如果饒恕別人的過犯，你們的天父也會饒恕你們。你們如果不饒恕別人，你們的父也不會饒恕你們的過犯”。
為著每天的保守 -- “不要讓我們陷入試探，救我們脫離那惡者” 。
耶穌的這個禱告是祈求勝過試探以及保守惡勢力不侵入我們的世界，換句話說，這就像說：“主啊，使我們不犯罪，保護我們遠離撒旦和這個墮落世界要對你兒女所做的一切邪惡”。
耶穌要我們與教會大家庭一起禱告。現在我們有更多的方法這樣做，透過社交網站，短信，微博和電話。你若知道有弟兄姊妹正經歷苦難的或是在試探中的，那就要花時間為他們禱告，若你願意，讓他們知道有人為他們禱告，神把我們帶到一個大家庭就是讓我們彼此代禱，並這樣說：“我們的父”。
“我們在天上的父” 神不像我們地上的父親，他是一個父親的藍圖。
現在我不得不說，我讀主禱文時想到的21世紀的一些問題，首先一個就是教會中許多人都與自己的父親關係不好；另一個就是許多男人濫用權柄，比如為父的權柄。我不敢忽視有那麼多關於這些的報告，我不能在講道中不提這些。
我來告訴你們，當耶穌稱神“父”時，並不是說他盼望我們與神的關係如生身父親，注意兩個字：“天上”。唯有神是完美的父，也是接受耶穌為救主的人所在的大家庭之父。耶穌在馬太福音23：9清楚說：“不要稱地上的任何人為‘父’，因為你們的父只有一位，就是天父”。
唯有神將完美的父的樣式彰顯給我們，想得廣些：原來我們生命中每一部分都匱缺了神的榮耀，當我們與耶穌相比時立見分曉。作為父親，我有虧欠，每一個人都有。當我們來到耶穌面前，我們要長成神造我們的形象，就算地上最好的父親也需要成長，每個人都要完全地悔改和改變。
當我們說世人，特別是地上的父親都匱缺了天父的榮耀，請不要感到奇怪。你所渴望的與父的關係是愛你、關心你，不放棄你，不離開你----這在你因信耶穌而進入與天父的關係中都得到了。
也許當你與地上的父親關係不好時，你比別人都更渴望從天父那裡得到父愛，你也會比別人更感恩認識他。你會感恩地經歷他：不會虐待你，卻要祝福你；不會羞辱你，卻要恩待你；不會丟棄你，卻要與你同在；疾病甚至死亡也不能把你奪去，因為他勝過一切的惡，他愛你就愛你到底。
當我們俯伏在阿爸天父面前，我們是說：我們對他---唯獨對他有著終極的忠誠；我們的終極身份是他的兒女---超越了人類的家庭和國界。我們稱他為阿爸，也因此稱教會周圍的人為弟兄姊妹，即使我們以前從未謀面。
耶穌教導我們以“我們在天上的父”開始禱告，我們在禱告中並非得到我們所要的，而是我們真正最需要的，與神的個人關係。在禱告中，我們進入與創造主個人的、親密關係中，我們來到他面前，認識到創造天地的神是我們的父，我們在天上的父。