Living Hope

Pastor Philip Miller: Did you know that Jesus is the very first person to pray to God as Father? In all the Old Testament, while God was understood as Father—Father of Israel, Father of all creation, God and Father of all—the Jewish people never addressed him in prayer as Father. They used other titles of address.

Pastor Larry McCarthy: Welcome to Living Hope with Pastor Philip Miller. I’m Pastor Larry McCarthy. We’re glad you’ve joined us today in this series through the Sermon on the Mount. People today pray to God all the time and they call him Father, but they really don’t understand the full implications of that. Pastor Philip, tell us: why is it so significant that Jesus called God his Father when he prayed?

Pastor Philip Miller: This really is groundbreaking what Jesus is doing. He’s the first person in all of history to address God as Father in prayer. We would expect at some level Jesus to do this because he’s the second member of the Trinity; he’s the Son of God. Of course, he would address God as Father.

But we have to remember, this is the prayer that Jesus is giving his disciples to pray. They’ve asked him, "Teach us to pray," and he’s saying, "Pray then like this." Jesus is teaching us to pray "Our Father," which is brand new in the history of the world. In other words, Jesus is saying, "You pray to God the same way I pray to God."

That means something huge is happening theologically in terms of our status before God. Jesus is giving us access we’ve never had before. He’s changing us by grace through faith in his finished saving work. Jesus is going to give us an identity and a place to come before God that we’ve never had before. We’re going to learn more about that today.

Pastor Larry McCarthy: Stay tuned after the message because Pastor Philip is going to share some words for those who have had a hurtful relationship with their earthly fathers. But now, let’s go to the pulpit of the Moody Church for part one of the sermon, "Our Father in Heaven."

Pastor Philip Miller: For many of us, prayer raises more questions than answers. Does it even work? Am I doing it right? Am I using the right words? How can I know that God is listening to me? Jesus' disciples had many similar questions about prayer, but they saw something in Jesus. They saw that Jesus prayed with a confidence, a closeness, a comfort that they absolutely found mesmerizing. So they asked Jesus, "Would you teach us how to pray?" They wanted to know what he knew.

In Luke chapter 11 and in Matthew chapter 6, the passage we’re looking at today, Jesus gives his disciples what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. It’s really, in many ways, the disciples' prayer. It’s the prayer that the Lord gave the disciples to pray. It is this prayer that will ultimately turn the world upside down. It can turn our lives upside down as well if we’ll let it. Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 to 13, and look at this prayer that sweeps the world.

And actually, since this prayer is one that I think a lot of us know, let’s say it together. This is how Jesus introduces it. Matthew 6:9: "Pray then like this." Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Let’s pray as we turn to God’s word. Heavenly Father, we pray right now that you would open our eyes to all that Jesus has done in order to give us access to you, that we might call you our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. We pray this in Jesus' beautiful name. Amen.

This morning, we’re going to zero in on that first sentence of the Lord’s Prayer, which contains three key phrases: Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name. Those are the three phrases. Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name.

First of all, Our Father. Did you know that Jesus is the very first person in all of history to address God as Father? In all the Old Testament, while God was understood as Father—Father of Israel, Father of all creation, God and Father of all—the Jewish people never addressed him in prayer as Father. They used other titles of address: O Sovereign Lord, Lord God Almighty, Lord Master, Righteous One, the Holy One of Israel. Names like this, but never Father.

When it comes to Jesus, on the other hand, Father is his favorite title when it comes to God. Over 165 times in the New Testament, he addresses God as Father. It’s the only way that Jesus addresses God in prayer. All of his prayers, he prays to God as Father, except for one. Jesus relates to God in a way that no other person had ever previously dared to relate to God. This is a breakthrough moment. It is radically unprecedented what Jesus is doing here. He’s blazing new theological terrain in addressing God as his Father.

In Jesus' day, almost everyone was multilingual. The reason I bring that up is because the spoken language of Jesus' day was Aramaic. The written language was Greek for most common writing. If you had a legal document or an official proclamation, you would use Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire. While the word that we have here in our text for Father is pater, which is the Greek word for Father, Jesus almost certainly, when he verbalized this prayer, would have been speaking in Aramaic. He would have used the Aramaic word for Father, which is abba.

In most cultures, the first two words that most children learn are the words for Mommy and Daddy. In Aramaic, Mommy is imma and Father is abba. This is an infant child’s word for Daddy. Abba, Daddy. It is full of innocence, connection, and childlike trust. When my five-year-old was very little, when I would come home in the evenings from work, he would toddle over with his pudgy little arms outstretched and go, "Dada, dada, dada," because he wanted to be close. He wanted to be near. He wanted to be together. That’s the picture of this word, abba, Daddy.

Just think of how different this prayer would have read if Jesus had introduced it in another way. He could have said Our Master, Our Lord, Our King, Our Creator, Our Judge, Our Friend, all of which are true. God is all of those things to us. But he chooses the word abba to address God as his Father, like a little child running into her daddy’s arms, crying out, "Abba, Abba, Father."

This is quite an astounding picture. I can understand how Jesus gets to pray to God this way as abba. He’s the second member of the Trinity, after all. He’s the firstborn of all creation. He’s the Son of God. When Jesus was baptized, the voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him." It makes all the sense in the world that Jesus would get to pray to God like this: Abba, Father.

But then Jesus says, "You pray like this. Our Father, abba in heaven." Are you kidding me? Do you realize what he’s saying? Jesus is saying you come to God the same way I come to God. You come as a beloved son, a beloved daughter. You come like a little child running into her daddy’s arms, crying out, "Abba, Abba, Father." You crawl up in his lap, you snuggle in close, and you come just like I come to my Father, Abba, Father. This is staggering, mind-blowing, and utterly amazing.

Because in Jesus, orphans become children. This is the only way this works—if we are children of God. That’s who we are. John 1:12: "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right, the authority to become children of God." Ephesians 1:5: "He, God the Father, has predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ."

Ladies, don’t let this turn you off that it says just sons. This includes you too. Galatians 3:26: "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith." First John 3:1: "See what kind of love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God, and that is who we are."

Galatians 4:3-7: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a 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 that you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if you are a son, then you are an heir through God." Romans 8:15: "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of the adoption as sons by whom we cry 'Abba, Father!'"

Here is the gospel reality: if Jesus died for our sin and our shame, if he was raised to make us right forever with God, and if we have believed on him as our only and sufficient Savior and Lord, then Christ is in us and we are in Christ. Which means that when we stand before God, we stand in Christ alone, fully and completely covered with his perfect righteousness. Which means that the words that God the Father spoke over the Son as he rose out of the waters of baptism now apply fully to us by grace: "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him."

Those are the three things every child needs to hear from their father: I love you, I’m proud of you, and I’m endorsing you. It is all true of you in Christ. These words apply to you. Jesus is teaching us, "In me, in my kingdom, you are children of God. So pray like it. Abba, our abba Father." If it wasn’t for Jesus, we wouldn’t have a prayer. But thank God, in Jesus, we do. Our Father.

Pastor Larry McCarthy: This is Living Hope with Pastor Philip Miller. I’m Pastor Larry McCarthy. Before we start our discussion today, I want to let you know that this program is made possible because of generous supporters just like you. As a thank you for your gift today, we have a resource we’d love to share with you. To get yours, simply go to livinghopeoffer.com or you can call us at 1-800-215-5001.

We’re so glad you’ve joined us today as we explore the significance of God our Father. Pastor Philip, I just have to ask. There are some of our listeners who are saying, "I had a negative experience with my earthly father." What if this truth doesn’t provide the comfort or that sense of security? How can we encourage them today?

Pastor Philip Miller: I think that’s a real honest question. We all have wounds and we have damage that we carry from this broken world. Of course, earthly fathers were meant in the very beginning as God designed us; he designed us fathers to image him, to reflect his character and his goodness in the world and to represent the heart of God for our children. But of course, that doesn’t always happen.

Many of us have wounds that we carry from our relationship with our earthly fathers. That can happen in two ways. A lot of times we think of the obvious abuses and the pain, and it’s easy to say that’s not a good example. But what also happens is for those of us who had a fairly decent father, it was easy for us to almost make them into a kind of idol where it felt like they were bigger and larger than life. Then at some point, we found out they were human. There’s a moment of disenchantment that comes, and that can be almost as disorienting as something that was abusive from the outset.

Either way, I think you can carry these kinds of wounds related to your parents and especially toward fathers. What’s good for us to remember is that God is defining fatherhood on his own terms. He’s not like our dad; he’s actually better. He’s the template. He’s the original design of what a good father ought to be. We have to relearn to trust our Father, and we have to relearn what fatherhood means. We have to allow him to reparent us into the kind of childlike trust where we actually can look to him with the kind of trust that he deserves.

The reality is God is so faithful, he’s so patient, he’s so kind. He understands our wounds and our brokenness. He’s very patient and long-suffering with us as we have our fits and starts of trusting and then withdrawing. But it comes down at the end of the day to the heart of an orphan versus the heart of a child. Am I going to keep living like an orphan where I have to fend for myself and think like I’ve got to take care of myself because no one’s looking out for me? I’ve just got to do it all by myself and deal with the stress and anxiety and pressures and isolation of that.

Or am I going to learn to trust that I actually have a good Father who loves me, who is for me, who sent his beloved Son Jesus who voluntarily laid down his life on the cross for me? That kind of love I’ve never experienced, and God is wooing us back so that we might open our hearts back up instead of being defensive and isolationist. We can be vulnerable and open and begin to trust again, love again, and be intimate again with our heavenly Father.

There’s this whole reparenting thing that’s going on in our hearts and souls. I think we learn in life to cope our way through as orphans, and God is teaching us again how to actually come home and live as a child of God who has a good Father who actually loves us. What a privilege that is, but it’s hard to relearn those things.

Pastor Larry McCarthy: We hear you. We understand that everyone didn’t have a great, comforting relationship with their earthly father, but this is where God fills that void for us. Pastor Philip, you said that Jesus received this blessing from the Father that is also given to us. So in this vein of maybe we don’t see it—the "I love you, I’m proud of you, I endorse you"—it makes sense to our listeners that the Father would say these things about Jesus. But in what sense is God our Father proud of us?

Pastor Philip Miller: This is at his baptism and also the Mount of Transfiguration where the Father says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him." He’s the guy. In the message, I said if we are in Christ, those statements now apply to us. Our lives are hidden in Christ, and Christ is in us. Those things are actually true of us for Jesus' sake, not because of our sake, not because we’re so good or we’ve got it all together.

We’re the sinners who’ve been saved by grace. So our identity is now hidden in Christ. That’s who we are. We are children of God with all the righteousness of Christ in our account, with all of his standing and all of his access. We’ve been seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. That means we have access as children of God.

We’ve got to start to believe that that’s actually true, that God has nothing but a delighted smile and pride and joy over our lives—not because of who we were as sinners or even who we are in the fits and starts as we’re trying to learn to walk in righteousness, but because of who we will one day be. God sees the finished product and he sees us in all the glory that is Jesus that’s been shared with us. If that’s true, that changes everything. We actually can come to our Father, and we have nothing to fear and nothing to hide. We’ve got nothing to prove because Jesus is enough.

Pastor Larry McCarthy: That "well done" should encourage us. I know there are plenty of people who are serving, Pastor Philip. They’re serving in the churches, they’re serving in the nurseries, and they’re saying, "I’m tired." Does that "well done" encourage them?

Pastor Philip Miller: I think it does. The notion that we’re going to one day stand before our Father and that he will be delighted to see us sanctified and holy and brilliant in his presence, and he’ll say those famous words: "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." That scene really is highly motivating. It purifies your motivations. Instead of doing it for other people or for the accolades or earthly whatever, now my eyes are on the Father and his smile and his delight.

That also helps me know when I’m overdoing it. God’s never going to call me to something that’s going to absolutely just drain and pull everything out of me. I can run ragged because I’m doing it for people or I’m doing it for all the wrong motivations. But when I’m doing it for God and I know that his smile already rests on me, then it strips out the striving underneath of it. I can learn to just serve in joy and to know my own human limits and know that I can’t do everything, but I can do what God’s called me to do. I think it gives us a freedom in the midst of all of that and something really to look forward to.

Pastor Larry McCarthy: Be encouraged today. Remember: only what we do for Christ will last. Knowing God’s smile rests on you frees you from the confusion and distractions of trying to please the world. To help you simplify your focus, we’re offering Pastor Erwin Lutzer’s booklet, Walking with Jesus. Pastor Lutzer reveals how continually making a radical return to his priorities transforms both your heart and your witness.

You can learn to experience deep contentment in God, even during seasons of isolation or dry spiritual terrain. Our goal here at Living Hope is to provide gospel truth for your spiritual journey. This is the last week to request your copy of Walking with Jesus for a donation of any amount. Simply go to livinghopeoffer.com or call us at 1-800-215-5001. That’s livinghopeoffer.com, 1-800-215-5001. You can also write to us: Moody Church Media, 1635 North LaSalle Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60614.

Freedom in Christ means we no longer have to earn a seat at the Father’s table. Next time, we’ll talk about how Christ gives us access to our Father in heaven. Thanks for joining us for Living Hope, where you’ll always find gospel truth for the journey of a lifetime. Living Hope is a production of Moody Church Media and is sponsored by the Moody Church.