Rev. David Holwick M Lord's Prayer, #2
First Baptist Church adapted from 9-15-96 sermon
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 14, 2013
Matthew 6:9
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I. Prayer is an amazing thing.
A. Consider what we are asking.
1) We want heaven to bend down and do our will.
2) We want an Almighty God to reveal himself to us.
3) It is not something we should take lightly.
B. At their request, Jesus taught his disciples about prayer.
1) Jews put much emphasis on prayer.
2) For the most part, they got it right.
a) Almost every aspect of the Lord's Prayer can be
paralleled with an ancient Jewish example.
b) The problem is not the words from our mouth, but the
attitude of our heart.
1> Is our prayer motivated by selfishness and pride?
2> Are we treating God like a delivery boy?
C. Note the structure of the prayer (similar to Ten Commandments):
1) 3 petitions to God:
a) His name.
b) His Kingdom.
c) His will.
2) 3 toward humans:
a) Our forgiveness.
b) Our daily needs.
c) Our protection.
II. The "our" shows it is intended as a public or group prayer.
A. God saves us as individuals, but then he wraps us into
something larger than ourselves - the people of God.
B. Sometimes we may feel all alone in the world, but we
never are.
1) We have a multitude of brothers and sisters out
there.
2) We should connect with them and pray with them.
3) Isolated Christians tend to be ineffective.
III. To get prayer right, you must get God right.
A. We have to know who we are talking to.
1) What is your image of God?
a) The white-haired grandpa image is popular.
b) Others opt for the nebulous Buddhist image - God as a
divine principle or something like that.
2) How Jesus portrays him.
a) He is personal.
1> Many liberal theologians reduce him to "the ground
of our being" or a cosmic architect.
2> Bible portrays him as personal and approachable,
if a little on the scary side.
b) He is loving and wants the best for us.
c) He is powerful - not only good, but great.
B. We can pray to God as our father.
1) Father was a stunning way to address God.
a) One German scholar claims that Palestinian Jews in that
period never addressed God this way in prayer.
1> It was just too personal for them.
b) Jesus says God is someone we can draw close to.
2) Nowadays, calling God a father is more controversial.
a) Feminists think it is all part of a male conspiracy to
control the world.
b) In 2006, Presbyterians proposed other terms for the
Trinity.
1> "Rainbow, Ark and Dove"
2> "Speaker, Word and Breath"
A> I was beginning to think the next one would be
"Rock, Scissors and Paper"
3> How about this one: "Compassionate Mother, Beloved
Child and Life-Giving Womb"
#31275
A> It is not wrong to apply feminine attributes
to God - the Bible itself does this.
B> But neither is it wrong to give him masculine
attributes, which is what Jesus does here.
3) We can acknowledge that no human father comes close to God.
a) At best, we hope that our kids will know that we love
them and want the best for them.
1> In the case of the Holwick kids, they trust me
enough to let me do their taxes.
b) I think we all know what we would want our father to be.
1> Jesus says that he is like that, and better.
C. Can anyone call God their father?
1) This was a defining theme of classic liberalism.
a) He is everyone's father, so we should be everyone's
brother (or sister, to be politically correct).
b) In a sense he is the father of all humans. Acts 17:29
c) But born-again Christians note that Jesus is talking
about a special spiritual relationship here.
1> "Our" refers to Christians, not world. 1 Jn 3:1
2> A distinction is made.
2) Don't be too arrogant about God.
a) Too many Christians are convinced they are certain who
does, and doesn't, belong to God.
(As far as the fifth pew, but not the sixth...)
b) If some people have not acknowledged God as their Father
yet, the door is always open to them.
IV. God as the Lord of heaven.
A. God is in a different place than us.
1) Isaiah 55:8 says,
"'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways,' declares the LORD."
2) It is not an issue of location ("up there"), but character.
a) He is supernatural, and we are earthy.
B. Heaven shows that we have more to aspire to.
1) Heaven is where God's will is perfectly accomplished.
a) It is where God's glory fills everything.
b) Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 - heaven is inexpressible.
2) Our low view of heaven hurts our witness.
Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists of this
century, indeed of all time.
He did not think much of churches or religion.
But it wasn't because he was a natural skeptic, but because
religion's view of God seemed so shallow.
Charles Misner, a scientific specialist in general relativity
theory, expressed Albert Einstein's thoughts this way:
"The design of the universe ... is very magnificent and
shouldn't be taken for granted.
In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use
for organized religion, although he strikes me as a
basically very religious man.
"He must have looked at what the preachers said about God
and felt that they were blaspheming.
He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined.
And they were just not talking about the real thing.
"My guess is that he simply felt that religions he'd run
across did not have proper respect ... for the author
of the universe."
There is a lot of truth in this.
In our worship services God simply doesn't come through for
who he is.
He is unwittingly belittled.
Pastor John Piper says:
"For those who are stunned by the indescribable magnitude of
what God has made, not to mention the infinite greatness
of the One who made it,
...the steady diet on Sunday morning of practical "how to's"
and psychological soothing and relational therapy seem
dramatically out of touch with Reality - the God
of overwhelming greatness."
#3808
C. Knowing that God is bigger than us can give us a foundation.
1) A coach's example.
Tom Landry was the coach for the Dallas Cowboys for
many years.
Then they fired him in a rather unceremonious way.
Many football fans admired him and thought he had been
treated very shabbily.
Yet Landry was a perfect gentleman about it.
Someone asked him, "How can you be so calm?"
His answer was classic:
"I'm a born again believer. God is my source of peace."
Sermon #15968
2) Are you solid like this?
a) Knowing that God is in heaven, yet cares for us, should
give us a different perspective.
V. Prayer begins with praise.
A. We ask that God's name be hallowed.
1) Name represents everything about him.
a) Not just a word(s) attached to a person. G-O-D
b) Represents whole person, their character.
c) Special place of names of God in Bible focus on his
character and glory.
2) Hallowed is old-fashioned language for "make holy."
a) We are proclaiming that God should be honored as God.
b) It means you take God seriously.
1> Many people who would never consider using God's
name as a swear word, still don't hallow him.
2> If you never take God into consideration in your
life, you are not hallowing him.
#23467
B. Proper balance of intimacy and respect.
1) Jews saw God as awesome, but unapproachable.
2) Christians sometimes see God as too approachable.
a) We overemphasize intimacy with God and lose sense of awe.
b) "He's a great big wonderful God" is too trite, almost
irreverent.
C. How much do you honor God?
1) Accept what he says.
2) Commit daily life to him.
3) Witness for him and his values.
4) Talk to him regularly, and take all your concerns to him.
a) Devotional writer Robert Murray McCheyne:
"What a [person] is on their knees before God,
that they are, and nothing more."
b) The Lord's Prayer must flow from a committed heart.
An unknown author put it this way:
I cannot say "our" if I live only for myself.
I cannot say "Father" if I do not endeavor each day to
act like his child.
I cannot say "who are in heaven" if I am laying up no
treasure there.
I cannot say "hallowed be Thy name" if I am not
striving for holiness.
#11637
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 3808 “The Supremacy of God in Missions Through Worship,” John Piper,
United States Center For World Mission newsletter, May 1996,
page 9.
#11637 “I Cannot Pray the Lord's Prayer ‘If’," Fredericksburg Bible
Illustrator Supplements; original author unknown.
#23467 “How Do We Hallow the Name of God?” Gerald Rodgers collection of
the Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator Supplements, September 2001.
#31275 “The God Who Names Himself,” Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., President
of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
http://www.albertmohler.com, June 21, 2006.
Sermon #15968, “God Can Meet Your Needs,” Rev. Jim Mooney, Crenshaw
Church of God in Wheeler, Mississippi; http://www.sermons4u2.org
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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