Rediscovering the Lord's Prayer: Embracing God as Father
Summary
In today's sermon, we embarked on a journey to explore the profound depths of the Lord's Prayer, a prayer that has been central to the Christian faith for nearly two millennia. This series aims to transform Red Sea into a church deeply rooted in prayer, recognizing the timeless relevance of the Lord's Prayer in a world still plagued by evil, malice, and injustice. The prayer, given by Jesus himself, encapsulates the heart of God and His desires for humanity. As we delve into this series, our hope is to rediscover the joy, comfort, and wonder of praying this prayer with deep conviction.
The Lord's Prayer is found in both Matthew and Luke, but we will focus on the version in Matthew, nestled within the Sermon on the Mount. This prayer is not just a set of words but a model for how we should approach God, acknowledging Him as our Heavenly Father. Jesus expanded the understanding of God as Father, not just for the nation of Israel but for each individual, inviting us to see God as our personal Father. This invitation is extended to us today, calling us to embrace God as our Father and to incorporate the Lord's Prayer into our daily lives.
Understanding God as Father can be challenging for some, especially those with painful experiences with earthly fathers. Yet, Jesus assures us that seeing Him is seeing the Father, revealing God's heart and character. Jesus cared for the marginalized and oppressed, demonstrating God's love and compassion. As children of God, we are called to reflect this love by being salt and light in the world, caring for those in need, and living out the values of the kingdom of God.
Prayer is hard work, requiring intentionality and commitment. The Lord's Prayer serves as a guide, helping us align our hearts with God's will. We can use it as a model, a liturgy, or focus on individual petitions to deepen our prayer life. As we pursue this invitation, may we grow in our understanding of what it means to be a child of God, with Jesus as our brother, and learn to pray with renewed wonder and conviction.
Key Takeaways:
- The Lord's Prayer is a timeless model for prayer, inviting us to see God as our Heavenly Father and align our hearts with His will. It challenges us to embrace the wonder and significance of being God's children, with Jesus as our brother. [27:15]
- Understanding God as Father can be difficult for those with painful experiences with earthly fathers. Yet, Jesus reveals God's heart and character, showing us a Father who cares deeply for the marginalized and oppressed. [43:22]
- As children of God, we are called to be salt and light in the world, reflecting God's love by caring for those in need and living out the values of the kingdom of God. This requires intentionality and commitment in our prayer life. [45:24]
- The Lord's Prayer can be used as a model, a liturgy, or a focus for individual petitions, helping us deepen our prayer life and align our hearts with God's will. It serves as a guide to pray for our needs and the needs of the world. [52:25]
- Embracing the invitation to see God as our Father and incorporating the Lord's Prayer into our lives can lead to a renewed sense of wonder and conviction, helping us grow in our understanding of what it means to be a child of God. [56:02]
Youtube Chapters:
#!!0:00!!# - Welcome
[26:17] - Introduction to the Lord's Prayer
[27:15] - Historical Context and Importance
[28:10] - The Goal of the Series
[29:20] - The Heart of God Revealed
[30:14] - Invitation to RSVP
[31:29] - Reading from Matthew
[32:23] - God as Father in Scripture
[39:48] - Jesus' Expansion of God as Father
[40:54] - The Invitation to See God as Father
[41:43] - Challenges in Viewing God as Father
[42:25] - Jesus Reveals the Father's Heart
[44:08] - Our Call to Be Salt and Light
[45:24] - The Work of Prayer
[47:51] - Incorporating the Lord's Prayer
[52:25] - Using the Lord's Prayer as a Model
[56:02] - Communion and Benediction
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide: Exploring the Lord's Prayer
Bible Reading:
1. Matthew 6:5-13 (The Lord's Prayer)
2. Exodus 4:22 (God as Father of Israel)
3. Isaiah 64:8 (God as our Father and Creator)
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Observation Questions:
1. What are the key elements of the Lord's Prayer as presented in Matthew 6:5-13? How do these elements guide us in our approach to prayer?
2. How does the sermon describe the historical significance of the Lord's Prayer within the context of the Sermon on the Mount? [27:15]
3. According to the sermon, how did Jesus expand the understanding of God as Father beyond the nation of Israel? [39:48]
4. What challenges are mentioned in the sermon regarding viewing God as a Father, and how does Jesus address these challenges? [42:25]
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Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the concept of God as our Heavenly Father, as introduced in the Lord's Prayer, change the way believers might view their relationship with God? [31:29]
2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that the Lord's Prayer can serve as a model for aligning our hearts with God's will? [52:25]
3. How does Jesus' care for the marginalized and oppressed, as described in the sermon, reflect the heart and character of God the Father? [44:08]
4. What does the sermon imply about the role of intentionality and commitment in deepening one's prayer life through the Lord's Prayer? [45:24]
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Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your personal experiences with earthly fathers. How do these experiences influence your perception of God as your Heavenly Father? How can you work towards seeing God through the lens of Jesus' teachings? [42:25]
2. The sermon emphasizes the importance of being salt and light in the world. What specific actions can you take this week to reflect God's love and care for those in need? [45:24]
3. Consider the challenges you face in maintaining a consistent prayer life. What practical steps can you take to incorporate the Lord's Prayer into your daily routine with intentionality? [47:51]
4. How can you use the Lord's Prayer as a model to pray for both your personal needs and the needs of the world? Identify one petition from the prayer and focus on it this week. [52:25]
5. The sermon invites us to embrace the wonder and significance of being God's children. How can you cultivate a renewed sense of wonder and conviction in your relationship with God? [56:02]
6. Think about a situation where you need to forgive someone or seek forgiveness. How can the Lord's Prayer guide you in this process of reconciliation? [52:25]
7. How can you encourage others in your community to see God as their Heavenly Father and to engage with the Lord's Prayer in a meaningful way? [41:43]
Devotional
Day 1: Embracing God as Our Heavenly Father
The Lord's Prayer invites us to see God as our Heavenly Father, a concept that Jesus expanded beyond the nation of Israel to include each individual. This prayer is not merely a set of words but a model for how we should approach God, acknowledging Him as our personal Father. In a world filled with evil and injustice, the Lord's Prayer remains a timeless guide, helping us align our hearts with God's will. By embracing this prayer, we are reminded of the wonder and significance of being God's children, with Jesus as our brother. This understanding challenges us to live with conviction and joy, knowing that we are deeply loved and cared for by our Heavenly Father. [27:15]
Matthew 6:9-10 (ESV): "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.'"
Reflection: How does viewing God as your personal Father change the way you approach Him in prayer today?
Day 2: Overcoming Challenges in Viewing God as Father
For many, understanding God as Father can be difficult, especially for those with painful experiences with earthly fathers. Yet, Jesus reveals God's heart and character, showing us a Father who cares deeply for the marginalized and oppressed. By seeing Jesus, we see the Father, who is full of love and compassion. This revelation invites us to heal from past wounds and embrace a new understanding of God as a loving and caring Father. As we reflect on this truth, we are encouraged to let go of misconceptions and allow God's true nature to transform our hearts and minds. [43:22]
Psalm 68:5-6 (ESV): "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land."
Reflection: What past experiences might be hindering your view of God as a loving Father, and how can you invite Him to heal those areas today?
Day 3: Being Salt and Light in the World
As children of God, we are called to be salt and light in the world, reflecting God's love by caring for those in need and living out the values of the kingdom of God. This requires intentionality and commitment in our prayer life, as we seek to align our hearts with God's will. The Lord's Prayer serves as a guide, helping us to focus on the needs of the world and our role in bringing God's kingdom to earth. By living out this calling, we become agents of change, spreading love, justice, and compassion in a world that desperately needs it. [45:24]
Matthew 5:13-16 (ESV): "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."
Reflection: In what specific ways can you be salt and light in your community this week?
Day 4: Using the Lord's Prayer as a Model
The Lord's Prayer can be used as a model, a liturgy, or a focus for individual petitions, helping us deepen our prayer life and align our hearts with God's will. It serves as a guide to pray for our needs and the needs of the world, reminding us of the importance of seeking God's kingdom and righteousness. By incorporating this prayer into our daily lives, we are encouraged to approach God with humility and trust, knowing that He hears and answers our prayers. This practice can lead to a renewed sense of wonder and conviction in our relationship with God. [52:25]
Colossians 4:2-4 (ESV): "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison."
Reflection: How can you incorporate the Lord's Prayer into your daily routine to deepen your relationship with God?
Day 5: Growing as Children of God
Embracing the invitation to see God as our Father and incorporating the Lord's Prayer into our lives can lead to a renewed sense of wonder and conviction, helping us grow in our understanding of what it means to be a child of God. With Jesus as our brother, we are called to live in the fullness of our identity as God's children, reflecting His love and grace to the world. This journey requires intentionality and commitment, as we seek to align our lives with God's will and purpose. By embracing this calling, we can experience the joy and fulfillment that comes from living as beloved children of God. [56:02]
1 John 3:1-2 (ESV): "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."
Reflection: What steps can you take today to embrace your identity as a child of God and live out His love in your daily interactions?
Quotes
1) "The Lord's Prayer has been important to the church for nearly 2,000 years. As I mentioned, it's been important because after the Sermon on the Mount, what I didn't know was that it was especially important to the church. The Sermon on the Mount was especially important to the church in the first few centuries. It also was important to the church because it was given by Jesus himself. And as Nije Gupta writes in one of his commentaries, it's somehow, the Lord's Prayer somehow captures something central to the Christian faith, particularly regarding the nature and theology of prayer and the Christian life." [16:57] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2) "We want to see, as we, the elders and the leaders, want to see Red Sea become even more of a church of prayer. It is a goal we are pressing towards, and we see the series on the Lord's Prayer as part of moving toward that goal. And as the church has done through the ages, we recognize this prayer's importance and relevance. Each age, including when Jesus lived, is a time when the world was full of evil, malice, greed, injustice, and hunger. And it is no different today. This prayer and the life of Jesus shows what the heart of God is and what he wants to accomplish." [28:32] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3) "Yahweh to include Father but in a different way than before because he said he only did what his father wanted so Jesus was implying that God was his father and he demonstrated this by his actions and by his words he demonstrated the heart of God he pushed back against the oppression and the tyranny of their powerful religious elite the chief priests he tried to explain how the kingdom of God worked to the Pharisees who thought the kingdom of God would only appear when Israel was blameless no wonder they were so condemning of people they viewed as sinners instead Jesus hung out with the sinners the most marginalized oppressed of Jewish society Jesus was demonstrating by his actions the heart of God his father he knew that the true exodus and liberation would only come by breaking the power of sin and the power of darkness that held God's creation in bondage and this would only come by Jesus being obedient to his father and Jesus death and resurrection Jesus also expanded the view of God as father in many of the passages and particularly in the Sermon on the Mount where he informed the hearers That God wasn't just their father, wasn't just the father of the children of Israel, wasn't just his father, but was their father." [37:35] (130 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4) "I see several parts to that invitation. It's an invitation, like Jesus, to begin to think and realize God as our Heavenly Father. That's the first part of the invitation. The second part of the invitation is let the Lord's prayer become part of our prayer life. To think of God as our Heavenly Father. Now I want to be candid here for a second. Because I realize that God as Father, for some of us, is extremely difficult. And in some cases, very painful. Their own earthly father was or is non-existent in their life. Or their earthly father is abusive. Abusive. Physically, emotionally, or both. For some, the term Father conjures up the image of God being male. And all the hurts they have experienced by males. That makes it hard. Either of these experiences are very difficult, make it very difficult to view God as our Heavenly Father. As being kind, accepting, and good. And delighting over his children." [41:25] (100 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5) "And so I want to encourage us to begin to look at God as Father by looking at the lens through which Jesus lived life because he displayed the character and the heart of God, his Father. So one of the reasons for us to begin to see God as Father, as our Father, is a call to be about doing the work of God until Jesus returns. It's easy when we read, see and read in the paper and watch, to see that God is doing more importantly or more likely on Instagram or some other social media device. It's easy to see all of the darkness and evil around us. And we want to withdraw. And Jesus doesn't want us to withdraw. Jesus left the glory of heaven to come and step into the kingdom of God." [44:45] (74 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6) "and to make a change by how he lived and died we too as children of god are called to step into the mess and the darkness and be salt and light by caring for the marginalized and the oppressed by being kind and forgiving and praying for our enemies by being a peacemaker by being a generous with our time talents and resources not just to those in the church but to those in need being a people who demonstrate to all around us how we how we live by how we live that there is hope and that god the father cares for them and the second part of the invitation is this you to let the lord's prayer become part of our prayer life i want to acknowledge that prayer is hard work it requires intentionality for some reason i have acquired the reputation that i am a person of prayer and i can't tell you how many times in the morning when i get up i have to be very intentional you about praying like you i just want to jump into my to-do list and my tasks okay i wanted to say that because that's where we all live we have to be intentional and so i want to encourage us to be intentional about the lord's prayer" [46:02] (107 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7) "i'm going to give us a couple a couple of ways in which we can pray the lord's prayer for us and i want you to pray for us we can incorporate the lord's prayer into our prayer life the first one is the time-honored tradition as using the lord's prayer as a model prayer effectively that's what luke said he said you know when you pray pray like this as a model and it's been used as a model probably ever since that day and so you begin your prayers we begin our prayers with acknowledging and thanking god that he is our father that he chose to adopt us and make his his children and by doing so give us an inheritance and also give us a brother who serves as high priest in the presence of god think about think about that mediating on our behalf his siblings so we can use it as a model of prayer and start by acknowledging god but then the rest of prayer goes hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil so you take each of these petitions and you think about it and you pray for that in your own life but also for the world and i'll give a few examples and i mentioned a few just a minute ago but we can pray that god's will will be done in our family in my life god's will will be done in red sea god's will will be done in our upcoming elections god's will will be done in the conflict of ukraine" [49:21] (140 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8) "as we pursue these invitations the one to make god and see god as our father my and and to pray my hope is that we will learn to appreciate you the wonder and challenge of being a child of god whose brother is jesus and that we learn to pray the lord's prayer with joy with comfort with a new sense of wonder and a deep deep conviction" [55:22] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9) "as we wrap up we're going to enter our usual time of giving receiving singing and praying if you want to give there's a black box in the back of the room where you can give you can also give through paypal and if you need directions on how to do that you can do that you can call me and i will walk you through that um zach's going to lead us in a few more songs of worship and if you are a follower of jesus if you're someone who calls god father i want to invite you forward to take communion by taking a piece of bread and dipping it in the juice and then eating and eating the bread and i want you to think about how how awesome god has called us to be his children and to be his children and to be his children and jesus his brother i have to admit that this week i i was reminded anew to think of jesus as my brother he wears multiple hats that's true" [56:02] (85 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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