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.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’” Matthew 6:9-13
We began on Monday thinking through the Lord’s Prayer together. I wrote of this prayer as a “a model prayer”, if you will, of God teaching people how to pray and what to pray for. But I also wanted to highlight how this prayer needs to be “our” prayer as well…a gift given to us by our heavenly Father especially on those days and in those occasions where it is hard or next to impossible to know what to say to God.
Today, we will consider the opening address…the preface to the prayer, if you will, “Our Father in heaven”. Technically speaking this opening line makes a great preface presenting to us the Object to whom we are to pray, reminding us of the covenant office that He holds, and, finally, where He resides…and that is, not so much a particular ethereal geographic but that He is resident everywhere at the same time infinitely superior over all.
As His people, and as His children this is where all our prayers ought to begin. “Our Father” recognizing the fact that we are part of a greater family. It is not “my Father” but “our Father”. By expressing it this way we are including ourselves with the greater family recognizing our connection and the love that God, our Father, has for all of His children. There is no place for autonomy (even in this simple prayer)…for we are all one in Christ, the children of God. Once we were we children of wrath only thinking of our selves…now we are the children of God who are to have love for one another as Christ loved us…so we are to say “Our Father”.
When we speak this title we not only show that we know Him intellectually but that we have a relationship with Him, granted to us by Him through justification and adoption… a relationship that transcends all earthly relationships and institutions. One of the reason I love this opening address is because it shows me that coming to our God and Father is not a complicated thing. There is really no liturgy necessary but the simple “Our Father”, and as Jesus reminds us, at that moment the audience we desire is granted. This intimate term Father(Jesus’ favorite term for God as it is His most used term) is a term of endearment and one of love. Who doesn’t want to come into the presence of such a Father who has chosen us before the foundations of the world to be His, and then in time and space sent His Son to die and resurrect thus securing for us, His children, eternal life along with countless promises that we can experience daily when we seek to live in the fear of the Lord. The author to the Hebrews reminds us of this in Hebrews 11:6- “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” Christ presents the Father to us in a most tender way focusing on the type of relationship He has granted to us. Jesus makes clear this relationship when He said, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”(John 20:17).
There is also a certain amount of respect and honor that comes with this opening address in our recognition of His covenant office but even that is kept simple by the phrase “in Heaven” or “which(who) art in Heaven” depending on the version you chose. And, by the way, that recognition, as simple as it is, is necessary so that we do not get too presumptuous with our King…who is also our Father. As His children we must honor Him…so we don’t call Him “Daddy” as some have flippantly taken too, using an earthly title thinking that it is more loving and intimate…Jesus shows us the proper address, “Our Father in heaven”; minimizing this address minimizes how we see the God of all the universe who is our Father which requires a certain posture that we should take in His presence. This posture is not necessarily physical but always should be one of reverence mixed with the love and desire to be in His presence.
These 2 words “in heaven”(ESV) are there to remind us of God greatness and majesty over all His created order and as such ought to fill us with humility and awe. Paul shows us another example of how we are to understand this, Ephesians 1:17- “…the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory…” While God is obviously not “confined” to heavenit is with the picture of the throne room of God that we understand that He is majestic…He is Holy…that He is just and the Justifier. By stating that He is “in heaven” we know that He is providentially directing all things from His position of being over all. Our Father is Almighty!
One more thing about this address, it reminds me of where our ultimate home is…with our Father in Heaven. For heaven is our real home…our forever home… as we like to say here in time and space! In the same way God gave His people His name in the Old Testament, His gives us His preferred title for all of us to generously and joyously use, “Our Father in heaven”. Praise Him today as you pray beginning with the address that Jesus gave to us when He was teaching us how to pray.
God Bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
