Matthew 6:5-13
Introduction to the Season of Lent: More than any other season on the church calendar, the season of Lent is focused on deepening our life of prayer. Though prayer can be difficult and mysterious for many reasons, we can be thankful that we have very clear teaching from Jesus on what we are to pray. He gave his disciples what we call the “Lord’s Prayer” as a pattern for prayer. There is great value in praying this prayer word-for-word from a genuine heart but it is clear that Jesus intended this prayer to be used as a pattern, or outline, for prayer. The Bible contains many prayers that don’t use the words of the Lord’s Prayer, but Jesus gave us this pattern for prayer to show us what a well-rounded relationship with God looks like and to keep us from neglecting important parts of our relationships with Him. It has been said that this pattern contains every prayer we could pray and every part of what it means to be a Christian.
This Lent we will be learning or re-learning the Lord’s Prayer together as we look at each part of the prayer and practice using it as a pattern for our prayers. Before giving us the six core petitions of prayer, the Lord’s prayer begins with an address. We often wonder, “What should I call God?” Jesus tells us: call him, “Our Father in heaven”. This shows us three things about prayer.
The Highest Purpose of Prayer - In telling us to call God, “Our Father”, Jesus teaches us that the highest purpose of prayer is communion with God as a Father; it is simply being with God as his child. Of all the titles or names for God Jesus could have chosen for the model prayer, he chose the most familial and personal one available – “Father”. Jesus is showing us the deeply personal nature of all prayer. Prayer is never transactional or impersonal. Its highest purpose is not anything we can get from God, not anything we can ask of God, not anything God might do in response to our prayer. The highest purpose of prayer is knowing, enjoying, talking and being with God as Father. If we get to this place in our prayer, in a sense, all our other prayers are already answered.
What does this mean? If God is your Father it means he will provide for all your needs, protect you from all ultimate harm, be present with you always and be pleased with you simply because you are his son or daughter. As a Heavenly Father, his almighty power is combined with his unconditional love. He sees and knows what you need, and is able to give you what is best for any situation. He is inclined to bless you before you ever open your mouth to ask for anything. All this makes prayer seem so unnecessary! But that’s the point. Jesus teaches us that prayer should begin with the recollection of our place as God’s sons and daughters. One day we will stop praying the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, but we will never for all eternity stop calling God, “Abba, Father.” This helps us remember that whatever we ask and however he answers, He is our Father who loves us and is for us with all the might and power of heaven.
The Privilege of Prayer - How can we experience and enjoy this kind of relationship with the God of the universe? We need to see that though there is a sense in which God is Father to all humanity universally, the intimate Father-child relationship described by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer is not ours as a right. It is a privilege (the highest privilege!) reserved for all those who believe in Jesus, God’s only Son. Jesus is the only person who has the right to call God, “Abba Father”. If you look at how Jesus talked to and referred to God, he almost exclusively called God, “Father”. No one prior to Jesus had the audacity to talk to and about God like this!
In his prayers, Jesus showed us what we all have lost and how we can get it back. Of the many true and accurate titles he could have used for God, Jesus always called God “Father”. Except once. It was at his darkest moment on the cross when he bore the judgment for all our refusal of and running from the Father. He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He took our place outside the experience of the Father’s love and favor. Why? So we could take his place as children, as sons and daughters.
Here is the truth that can revitalize and transform our prayer life - though it is not our natural right to call God ‘Father’ simply by virtue of being human, if our faith is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it is our privilege and our right to call God ‘Father’ as his children (John 1:12). The implications of this are truly profound – it means:
Our most important prayer is already answered. We don’t ask God to be our Father. We assume he is our Father. Like a child has the right to assume, so we can assume God’s protection, provision, pleasure and presence are with us. All these are the rights of His children.
All our other prayers will be answered. St. Augustine said we can presume God will give us what we ask since He’s already given us the greater gift of being his children. He said, “For what would He not now give to sons when they ask when he has already given this very thing - they might be sons/daughters?”! Romans 8:31 says it like this, “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? In others words, all our prayers can be prayed with the (humble) presumption that God will give us what we ask for – or what we would ask for if we knew everything He did as our Heavenly father.
We can still pray when it seems like God isn’t answering. Because Jesus was forsaken for us, we will never be. But sometimes it can feel like we are. In these times, we are told the Spirit of the Son has been given to us to cry out, “Abba Father!” (Gal. 4:6, Rom 8:15). When we doubt, when God feels distant, we are given one word to cry out: “Abba!” In this one word contains all the promises of God – if we are his children by faith in His Son, then He is listening and is present even when we hurt so bad that we can’t even pray.
These powerful privileges that are ours by faith are why Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones said that the essence of all true prayer is found in those two words. “If you can say from your heart, whatever your condition, “My Father”, in a sense your prayer is already answered.” May a renewed sense of the privilege of praying “Our Father” revive our hearts to run to our Father with boldness as we learn to pray the rest of the prayer Jesus taught us.
DISCUSS
What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?
What is your experience with praying the Lord’s Prayer? Have you used it in your own prayer life? How so? What impact has it had on your prayers and relationship with God?
What are the different purposes of prayer? How might knowing that the highest purpose of prayer is being with God as his child affect your prayers? How might it motivate you to pray more? more boldly? more freely? more honestly?
Why do we need to see that prayer is unnecessary before we can really pray? Take your time to think about this one!
How does knowing that Jesus died to give us the right to pray like Him (and that God hears us just like He hears Him) give us boldness and encouragement in prayer?
Which of the 3 bullet points above might most energize your prayer life if you really believed it? How so?
PRAY | Using only the words, “Our Father in Heaven” take time for personal or group prayer. For the sake of this exercise, be disciplined to begin without asking God for anything. Instead, “recollect” your place as his son/daughter by thanking him and praising him for all that this means and how it is possible through the work of Christ. End by asking only that you and others might know with assurance that God is their Abba/Father and they are his child.