Sunday message: Lord's prayer, pt 1

I am feeling led to look into the Lord's Prayer here on Sunday.  My leading came when some preacher mentioned the Rosary, which I am familiar with from my Catholic days.  And my thoughts wandering, I thought to myself, "They say one 'Our Father' for every ten 'Hail Mary's, in a way, because you get so much more from the Lord's Prayer- even when you don't get it all the way- than you do from a Hail Mary."  But what if we tried to get the most out of ONE Lord's Prayer?


This morning, I looked up a site that had "63 verses about God as Father", and made note of what part of Fatherhood was actually being mentioned.  What I found was (not surprisingly to you numerology fans) seven standout characteristics.

1- An example

Isn't this the part that everyone says society has lost- fathers acting as examples?  It used to be that many of us looked at our fathers as heroes- feet of clay and all.  I remember being in kindergarten, being asked what I wanted to do when I grew up.  Well, besides his factory job, which I knew next to nothing about, he worked as a handyman with Mom's brother-in-law.  So I drew a picture of the one time I helped him- putting up shingles on a roof.

God becomes our example in verses like Matt. 5:48- "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  Remember, 'perfect' here doesn't mean it the way we think, but more like 'complete'.


2- Provider

Jesus tells us over and over again, not to worry about physical things.  "And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. "But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you."- Luke 12:29-31.  And he provides for us in the spirit-plane as well:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," Eph. 1:3.


3- Compassion

The first thing I think of is when Jesus said, "What father would, when his son asks for a fish, give him a snake?"  His point was, a human father wouldn't (or at least shouldn't) do that, how much more will the Lord God show compassion?  But I thought it better served by this verse:

Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. (Psalm 103:13.)  I find it funny that I heard in a sermon the other day, "The Jewish mindset never thought of God as a Father, and the Pharisees considered it blasphemy when Jesus did."  And yet, the OT is full of descriptions of God as Father.

4- Purchaser-possessor-adoptive parent

In fact, one of the oldest mentions I found of God as Father was Deut. 32:6:
"Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.

Reminds me of the old song we sung in church as a child:

The church's one foundation

is Jesus Christ her Lord

she is His new creation 

by water and the Word

from heav'n He came and sought her

to be His loving bride

with His own blood he bought her

and for her life He died.

5- Creator

Just like our human father's 'created' us, God stands first of all as our Creator.  In fact, most of these other examples, if you think about it, have an implied, "Since God is our Creator...".

6- Discipline

There are two categories that had just a little more volume-by-verse than the others.  Discipline- conducting ourselves with reverence before God- is one of those.  It strikes me right now that the most often asked question by unbelievers is, "Why would a loving God allow X?"  And that this is, by my study, one of the things God answers most:

My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.  Proverbs 3:121-12, and quoted in Hebrews 12:5-6.

If He is NOT your Father, your first question is "why did it happen?"  If He is, it should be, "What is He telling me through it?" One of my favorite parts of Job is where Elihu reminds Job of this concept:

Job 37:9  Out of the storeroom comes the tempest, and cold from scattering winds. 
Job 37:10  Ice is given by God's breath, and the expanse of waters is frozen. 
Job 37:11  Yea, He loads the cloud with moisture; He scatters His lightning cloud; 
Job 37:12  and it is turned around by His guidance, so that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the world of the earth. 
Job 37:13  Whether as a whip, or for His land, or for mercy, He finds it. 


7- Inheritance

And this is not only one of the two 'most-mentioned', it's the great part!  Just like the prodigal who returned after wasting it all, Our Father has yet more to give.  One thing I wanted to mention that caught my ear the other day.  You ever read the story of the Prodigal Son and think, "You know, I might have had the servants hose him down before I throw that new robe on that muddy, pig-poop-smelling, scruffy kid..."  But Jesus never mentioned that, and there is a reason.  Becoming a Christian COVERS our sins.  It doesn't take them away whilst we are in this body.  We are still sinners; we will still fall.  And we get called hypocrites and holier-than-thou when we do, by people who don't have the same Father.  But for OUR Father, it is enough that we have returned to Him.