2006-02-17
Good Morning Cherished Ones,
Last week I added some comments of my own to what had already been said about the Lord's Prayer [MT 6: 9-13] in preparation for a detailed analysis of it. Let me share some comments from three other writers. The first one is Samuel Zwemer in his book, Prayer. He says, "Every desire of the human heart can be expressed in the Lord's Prayer. This certainly includes every human sorrow and want expressed. There is room in this for every aspiration for the good of others." James Boice, in Sermon on the Mount, says that the Lord's Prayer is an outline for the nature of prayer and Christian doctrine. Andren Murray, in With Christ in the School of Prayer, describes the Lord's Prayer as "a model and inspiration for all other prayer...the deepest utterance of our souls before God." All three of these writers understand the importance of Christ's lessons for us about how to pray in it.
A question might come up: What about intercession, the seeking of God on behalf of others, in the Lord's Prayer? We can see it in the use of words like "our," "we," and "us." The fact is that we are praying this prayer for both ourselves and others. Another question arises: What about the intercession on behalf of those now lost? It comes in the section on deliverance, "but deliver us from evil..." All of this leads us to begin looking at index sentences. You'll remember that I mentioned we would get into them about two weeks ago and then had the cheekiness to tease you about them for awhile. These are sentences first used for helping illiterate people long ago to remember the Lord's Prayer and understand it. They are still useful to us today even through we have compact Bibles which we can read. The first index sentence lays the foundation for everything which follows. It calls upon God, Who alone is worthy of our praise and adoration. It calls the Sovereign Deity, the only One in the universe who can meet our needs and the deepest longings of our hearts. One way to worship, in my humble opinion, is the act of looking at God's word to focus on Who God really is. This notion certainly conforms to HE 11: 6, "No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek Him." Remember HE 11: 1, "To have faith is to be sure of things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see."
The first index sentence of the seven is, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..." Oddly enough, the OT Jew would never think of calling God, "Father." It's too familiar for too important a Being, in their rather stodgy view. But that has something to do with not understanding the love that exists between this Father and those who are His children, those who genuinely profess not only their belief in Him but also their love for Him and all for which He stands. Imagine having the privilege of permission, which I believe God gives the truly faithful, to call Him "Father!" How perfectly the description of the parent/child relationship fits our relationship with God. A responsible and emotionally healthy human parent gives birth to a child, rears the child, loves and protects the child, and remains a part of that child's life not even breaking that relationship at his own physical death. Let me explain the latter statement. My own father has been physically deceased since 1967. However, he still lives on in many of the attitudes and maybe even some physical gestures that I picked up from him. Those attitudes, things like valuing the importance of getting a good education, for example, have been passed on to my son. In the case of the Father, God, the relationship that He (through the Holy Spirit), brings into our lives changes them from "existences" [merely being present for a time on earth] to "lives" [living eternally with love and guidance of an eternal Parent and being fully able to experience the joy that comes from true faith]. We all know that He does this through enabling us to enter into the Covenant of Grace relationship with Him made possible by Christ's Atonement.
In today's understanding from the NT, we don't have to be afraid to say we are God's children. Surprisingly, some verses from the OT even suggest this, but legalism of the practice of traditional Judaism prevented this understanding. PS 103: 13 is an example. "The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him." From the NT, there can be no equivocation in reading RO 8: 15-16, "For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, 'Abba! My Abba!' God's Spirit joins Himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children." The word "Abba" can be translated "Daddy"-suggesting the special intimacy that exists between a parent and his child. John in 1 JN 3: 1 writes, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God." The incarnate Jesus, as He was getting ready to make the most important sacrifice that one can make, prayed in MK 14: 36, "'Abba,' He prayed, 'My Abba! All things are possible for You. Take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet not what I want, but what You want.'" We can see the human fear of pain and suffering combined here with the godly willingness to put God's will first over even it in this verse. We also see clearly the father/son relationship. Nothing is left to question about our child/parent relationship with God when one reads RO 8: 29, which describes Christ as "the first among many brothers." If you are feeling blessed in this, then the Spirit has enabled me to do my job.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have made us Your children and given us the privilege to worship You. The example set by Your Son Jesus Christ is so precious and godly that we have made His life a model for us to try to follow. You know we are far from perfect- truly a work in progress- and yet, You are loving and patient enough to guide us through our often-feeble attempts to be more like Christ. As our Father, You want us to keep trying, and we promise to do that. You have also given us prayer and study of Your word, so that You can talk to us and we can express what is in our hearts to You. Dearest Abba, we offer You our worship, not out of coercion, but instead, by our desire to let You know that we stand in awe of You, and that we know You deserve our reverence and loyalty. As a parent must sometimes do, You ask us to do things which we find difficult and to make changes which don't come naturally to us. As Your children, we know that You never ask us to do anything that isn't in our best eternal interests. Even in that moment when You call a loved one home, we know that You are acting in righteousness. We eagerly await the day when evil will finally be destroyed and we who believe will all be together living blissfully with You in heaven, our permanent home. RO 8: 19 expresses our heart's desire, "All creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal His sons." While we wait, You have given us the Holy Spirit to express our pain and suffering in ways we cannot. RO 8: 23, 26-27, "But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us His sons and set our whole being free...In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit Himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. And God, Who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of His people and in accordance with His will." We love, worship, praise, and thank You. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Next week, we will continue delving into that first index sentence to see other treasures for understanding it might hold. In the meanwhile, we can take comfort in knowing that the love we genuinely have for our Lord is returned over and over again. He is the Source of all that is good. PS 31: 19, "How wonderful are the good things You keep for those who honor you! Everyone knows how good You are, how securely You protect those who trust You." PS 111: 4-5, "He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever." PS 145: 16, "You open Your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing." Indeed, we owe our very lives to God, and surely He deserves our worship, thanks, and praise. PS 79: 13, "So we Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture will give thanks to Thee forever; to all generations we will tell of Thy praise." Each true believer can consider himself enveloped with the warmth of the Father's everlasting love. PS 66: 20, "Praise God, Who did not ignore my prayer or hold back His love from me."
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn