has been said of Christians that, while they confess monotheism there is just one God they actually practice tritheism in their practice it looks

Transcription

1 Lord s Day 46 Dear children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, and guests, when it comes to communication, the tone is set by the address. A child is taught not just to speak, but to begin with a name. Dad Mom In the army and navy one quickly learns you don t get anywhere without saying Sir. And if the officer is a female, it s ma am (that s madam without the d in the middle). In court things are very formal. The Right Honourable In any communication, the tone is set by the address. Prayer is humans communicating with God. What does how we address God say about our prayer, about God, and about us? How should we be addressing God? When Christ taught His followers to pray He taught us to address God as Our Father in Heaven. Our Father in Heaven. For the Jews who heard this, there were some surprises here, some new things. Addressing God as the One in Heaven, that was normal. But addressing God as Father? That wasn t common at all. You can count the number of references to God as Father in the Old Testament on the fingers of just one hand! Further, Rabbi Jesus encouraged people to go into their rooms and pray by themselves. Don t make your prayer a show. So you are in your room, all by yourself. And then you say Our Father. Why pray in the plural? For us today, there s an additional question. I indicated two weeks ago I d be addressing it in the sermon today. It s the question, who are we praying to? Is it God, the Father, as in the first Person of the Trinity? Or is it God, the Trinity, presented to us as a Father? If He is the first Person of the Trinity, is it okay to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ and to pray to the Holy Spirit? So let s listen to what God Himself teaches us about how to address Him in prayer. The theme for this sermon is: Christ taught us to pray to Our Father in heaven. We ll be looking at four things: (1) God s identity as we pray; (2) Our identity as we pray; (3) God s role when we pray; and (4) God s location when we pray. 1) God s identity as we pray Who do Christians pray to? If I ask that question outright, who do we pray to, the answer would probably be God. But if I press the question: the Trinity or just God the Father, most of us would say God the Father. Our thought is: we pray to the Father in the Name of the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Such praying to just the first person of the Trinity is evident in our liturgical prayers. Ever since Rev. Marten Micron, one of the ministers in the Dutch Refugee Church in London, wrote the prayers in 1555, many prayers have ended with a line such as All this we ask through Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who with you and the Holy Spirit, one only God, lives and reigns forever. This clearly suggests that we are praying to God the Father directly, and that the Son and the Holy Spirit are involved in prayer in a different way. And, pointing to various texts in Scripture we would say: The Lord Jesus is praying for us as we pray, and the Holy Spirit is purifying our prayer and then bringing it to the Father. Hence we pray in the name of Christ : we re asking God to listen to us because Christ is praying for us. And we pray through the Spirit : our prayer is acceptable because the Spirit has made it holy and pure. See Romans 8. That s how we tend to think about it. But think, for a moment, how would an Old Covenant child of God have answered that question: Who do you pray to? It s not difficult to figure out what the answer would be. We have many prayers in the Bible, especially in the book of Psalms. To whom do Israelites address their prayer? Let s review the most common ways to address God. Probably the most common is the expression LORD, with all capital letters, Yahweh, the personal name of God, the name of relationship, the covenant name. Fear of sinning against the third commandment has meant that Jews stopped the practice of uttering the personal name of God, Yahweh. And so even we in English tend not to use the personal name, but the word LORD in English only distinguished by capital letters. However, the idea is still there. Old Covenant prayer is addressed to I AM

2 WHO I AM, the Ever-faithful, the Trustworthy. Yawheh is very much a relational expression. Also common is the expression God. This phrase focuses on the being of the Lord. He is not a human, He is totally different. In prayer, these two phrases often combine into the phrase the LORD God, or, in Hebrew Yahweh God or God Yawheh. Yahweh then expresses the relation with the Lord, and God expresses the otherness of God. These phrases are often expanded with other terms. Many terms can be used, I will just note three. The first is El Shaddai. That is translated as Almighty God. This phrase points to God as being supreme in power and might. The second is Yahweh Sabbaoth (e.g Psalm 46:11). The most common translation for this phrase is LORD of hosts. Sometimes one will read Lord of heaven s armies (New Living Translation, Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling 2004), the NIV has LORD Almighty. And finally there s the expression that uses the Hebrew word for lord or master, Adonai. Those of you who know Dutch will be acquainted with the double expression Here HERE. That s Adonai Yahweh in Hebrew. In English the more common ways of rendering this is Lord GOD with GOD in capitals or Sovereign LORD (see Genesis 15:8). Yahweh, or LORD. God. El Shaddai God Almighty. Yahweh Sabbaoth LORD of hosts. Adonai Yahweh Sovereign LORD. Boys and girls, notice what s missing? What would you also expect in this list, and it s not there? It s the phrase Father. And that might be considered surprising, for the Old Testament, also the prayers, are full of expressions about the person praying being the child of God. It s not like the expression Father is never used. Last sermon on prayer we read a prayer found in Isaiah 63 and 64: in that prayer God is addressed as father twice. But that s the only place in the Old Testament it happens in prayer. The only other place that kind of counts in this kind of count is the apocryphal book Sirach, one might say a Jewish commentary on the Bible, quite a lengthy book, which has two prayers in it which address God as Father (Sirach 23:1 and 51:10). So, it s not absent. But it s not very common either. That s why one may justifiably say: when the Lord Jesus taught his followers to address God in their prayer as Our Father, that was quite the change! How would the Jews have understood the phrase? The concept father has three sides to it that seem relevant to that question. First, the concept father says something about origin. In the genealogy of Jesus Christ found in Luke 3, Adam is said to be the son of God. Turn that around, it says God is the father of Adam. In this manner, God as father stands at the origin of life, at its beginning. He is our father because He has created us. That s the emphasis we find in Isaiah 63(:16) and 64(:8). Second, the concept father says something about relationship. I think of Romans 8. The fact that God and His own are in a father-children relationship suggests a bond of care, of love. A Father will hold his own in his heart. Children will hold their father in their heart. For the Jews, that bond of care and love is expressed with the personal Name of God: Yahweh, I M ALWAYS THERE. And third, the concept father says something about destiny. I think of what we read in Romans 8. We are sons of God and we cry Abba, Father. Because we are children of God, we are heirs. And being an heir, boys and girls, that means you will be receiving something from your father. So the word father suggest origin, love, and destiny. That s how a Jew would have understand what Jesus said. It raises the question, did Jesus intend for his followers to pray to God with that Jewish understanding of origin, love, and destiny? Or did He intend it to refer to the First Person of the Trinity? To respond to that question, we should realize that the Trinity is a complex concept. I don t just mean in the sense of: we cannot comprehend the Trinity. But also in the sense of: how to refer to the Trinity. It

3 has been said of Christians that, while they confess monotheism there is just one God they actually practice tritheism in their practice it looks like there are three Gods. Us praying only to the Father is an example of that. With the Athanasian Creed we confess: In all things, both trinity in unity and unity in trinity must be worshipped. Worship a key component to worship is prayer. Prayer, as I explained a few sermons ago, consisting of praise, petitions, and thanksgiving. If we address our spoken prayers only to God the Father, are we not singling out God the Father for more worship than God the Son and God the Spirit? Is this still trinity in unity and unity in trinity? The Trinity is a complex concept, or a complex reality, hard to articulate properly in an address. For example, take the New Testament blessing. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. This is considered a proof text for the Trinity and it is. But notice how the Father is referred to as God. Is this implying that the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not God? And does grace only come from Christ, love only come from the Father, and fellowship only come from the Spirit? It s not neat and tidy. And it s not neat and tidy because the three individuals in which God exists are not separate individuals. Trinity in unity and unity in trinity, to use the phrase of the Athanasian Creed. That thought should be with us too where the address of the Lord s Prayer is concerned. Yes, we are primarily addressing the first person of the Trinity. But not to the exclusion of the other persons of the Trinity. One person who clued in to this was Zacharias Ursinus, the main author of the Heidelberg Catechism. In his commentary on Lord s Day 46 he argues that Father is actually a reference to the Trinity in Unity, and yet suggests a focus on the first Person of the Trinity. It s like Ursinus wants the best of both worlds. And that is, in fact, how it is. When we pray, we speak to God: Trinity in Unity. Just like the Israelite who prayed to Yawheh and there s no dispute among Bible believing Christians that not only the Father but also the Son and the Spirit are Yahweh. Yahweh is the Triune God, not just God the Father. The Israelite prayed to Yahweh, we too, pray to Yahweh, and we call Him Father. What is this telling us? It tells us there is nothing wrong with praying to all three Persons of the Trinity. The Lord s Prayer does not teach us we may only pray to God the Father. Now, where God the Son is concerned, it is easily proven from Scripture that praying directly to Jesus is fine. The second last prayer in the Bible does just that, it s Come, Lord Jesus. Prayer to the Holy Spirit is a contested issue, even in our own circles. It seems to me that the force of the logic does allow for it. If all Three Persons in the Trinity are to be worshipped, and one may communicate with the Trinity as a whole, or the first and second Persons of the Trinity, why not the third? (As an aside: There s a youtube video of a well known American preacher, part of the Gospel Coalition, who is asked the question whether you can pray to the Spirit. He begins by saying no, but 3 minutes into his answer he admits, I guess it s okay. The logic has suggested this to him.) And thus we can be fine with hymns in our Book of Praise like hymns 47 and 48 which speak directly to the Spirit. (Remember: our singing is often praying!) That being said, a word of caution is in place too. When one prays to God, keep in mind the works of the individual persons. I think this is where some Christian practices leave the rails. God the Father is He who decrees, creates, and provides. God the Son is He who facilitates, who redeems. God the Spirit is He who executes, who renews and proclaims. And thus, it is God the Father who is to give us daily bread, it is God the Son who is to ensure bread comes to us, and it is God the Spirit who is to bring us daily bread. It s not the Lord Jesus who provides for your daily needs, or who forgives your sins, or who would keep you from temptation. Nor is it the Holy Spirit. So don t ask them for those things either. That s the domain of God the Father. And hence, much of our prayer in relation to ourselves is always addressed primarily to God the Father. Prayer, I ve explained, is praise, petitions, and thanksgiving. Praise and thanksgiving are directed to all three Persons equally: we worship trinity in unity and unity in trinity. As to petitions, praying for the hallowing of God s Name, the coming of God s Kingdom, the execution of God s will, those are petitions directed to the Trinity. For example, have a look at Lord s Day 47. Your Kingdom come it says means So

4 rule us by your Word and Spirit. Preserve and increase Your Church. Now turn to back to Lord s Day 21, q&a 54. There we confess concerning the church : I believe that the Son of God gathers, defends and preserves for Himself, by His Spirit and Word a church. Praying Your Kingdom Come is actually a petition more addressed to God the Son than God the Father. And one can make the argument concerning Your will be done that this is actually addressed more to God the Holy Spirit, for it s about us obeying God s law. Do you notice how it s not all that clear cut? Petitions for provisions of life, those will for the most part be directed to God the Father. It is the Father who gives us our daily bread, who judges us and thus who forgives us, and who determines what happens in our lives. Don t ask Jesus for your daily needs ask the Father. In short, when Christ taught us to address God as Father, the focus was more on addressing the Trinity as Father than on speaking only to the First Person of the Trinity. There is clear Biblical evidence for prayer to God the Son and logic suggests that prayer to God the Spirit is fine too. On the other hand, be clear in your prayer. If you do choose to address the Son or the Spirit directly, make sure you do so in regards to their works. We can address the Trinity or just the First Person of the Trinity as Father. But we cannot address the Trinity as a whole as God the Son or God the Spirit. We have three considerations yet. Let me assure, I ll be much shorter on those. 2. Our identity as we pray The father-child relationship, I noted earlier, is one of care and love. The Father holds His child in His heart and the child holds the Father in his or her heart. But it also means that the children hold each other in their heart. It s as Paul wrote in Philippians 1:7 about the Philippians, I hold you in my heart. That shows especially in our prayer. The other surprising thing about the Lord Jesus teaching us to pray is that He tells us to go by ourselves and then pray in the plural. Our Father, not my Father. Prayer is very much part of being whom God intended us to be. He created us to be His image, to reflect His love and loyalty. Love and loyalty is reflected in us praying for each other. While we may indeed pray for our own individual needs there are plenty of examples of that in the Psalms we are to pray for each other and for us all together. So who is the our? That s a point of debate among Bible scholars. Often the debate is cast in an either/or format, but there s no reason that it can t be a both/and. Well, actually, there are three options, so it s this and that and that. The word Father suggests origin. God is the Father of all human beings, believers and unbelievers. He made us all. Seen thus, our is all of mankind. The Heidelberg Catechism recognizes this approach in dealing with the third petition, Your will be done. It begins: That is: Grant that we and all men. Here we are praying for all men, as per Paul s instruction to Timothy (1Tim 2:1). The word Father suggests relationship. God is the Father in the covenant context. He has called some to be His own. Seen thus, our is the covenant community, the church community. That is the primary force of Father. For, first, Christ is teaching His disciples to pray in this manner, so His disciples (including Judas Iscariot) are being taught to say our. And second, it is only covenant children who, in Christ, have the right to claim God as their Father. The word Father also suggests destiny. God is the Father in the election context. It is those who respond to God s call in faith who are the true children of God. You may be aware, in some Christian circles calling God Father is avoided because those praying feel they don t know whether God indeed is their Father. The problem is, such are turning things backwards. Those who pray, who pray earnestly and sincerely, pray because they have faith in God. Prayer is the expression of faith, the articulation of faith. Anyone who prays is thereby recognizing the generosity of God, the grace of God. To not call God Father

5 when you pray is actually offending God. He extends His grace in Christ, You may call Me Father, He sends His Spirit in our hearts so that we want to cry Abba, Father. And then you refuse? No, you shouldn t do that. Prayer is a fruit of faith and as a fruit of faith serves to assure you of your election. Prayer is primarily a covenantal activity. It s an expression of our faith in God s promises and it s laying claim, in Christ, through the Spirit, to God s promises. That s what we learn from Romans 8. And because prayer is a covenantal activity, it is a communal activity. We pray not only for ourselves, we pray for others. Indeed, just as prayer in relation to God has priority over prayer for this world and humans, so prayer for others should have priority over prayer for ourselves. It s not about me, it s about God and it s about us, and it s about me in relation to God and in relation to us. That being said, let s now consider (briefly) what tone the address sets for our prayer. 3. God s role when we pray God is our Father, He has us in His heart. His people are the apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:10). He cares, as a father should care. As a father should care. There are those who dare not, who cannot, who refuse to call God their Father because of the way their earthly fathers were or are. That s understandable. In one of my former congregations I would even avoid calling God father during worship when a certain individual had mustered up the courage to be in church. Brothers, this places a great onus on those of us who are fathers. How we are shapes the way our children see God, and that will be with them for life. Don t spoil God s fatherhood by being a poor or bad or evil father. Christ wants us to call God father, so that right from the start, we realize that God loves us, cares about us, cares for us. He wants to give us what is good. And so, just as a child is naturally inclined to trust its parents, we are to seek God in faith, in trust, in love. Christ Himself, God s own Son, told us that if earthly parents care for their children, how much more will God grant the requests of those who earnestly and sincerely turn to Him in prayer. The word Father also says something else. The catechism phrases it as childlike reverence. We are also to recognize that God is in control, that He, in the end, determines what is best for us. That doesn t undermine our prayer. But it does make us pray carefully. We will ask for those things that will fit with Father s plan. We recognize, he calls the shots, not we. In a store, the client is king. But in prayer, God is king! God s role in prayer: He s not just the one who listens, He s the one who cares and who reacts. That s what the words our Father remind us of when we pray. 4. And then there s added: in heaven. That s our fourth consideration. God s location when we pray. God is in heaven. Heaven, boys and girls, is the capital city of creation. What Ottawa is to Canada and what Victoria is to BC, that s what heaven is to the universe, to all of creation. When we mention that God is in heaven, we are reminded of two things, right at the start of our prayer. We are reminded of God s might and of God s power. God s might and God s power are two different things. They both relate to what God can do. But they relate to what God can do in different ways. God s might is about the right God has to act. God s power is about the ability God has to act. Being able to do something does not yet mean you have the right to do it. Being able to drive a car doesn t yet mean you re allowed to drive a car. You need to have a license. Being able to have children doesn t yet mean you re allowed to have children. You need to be married. Being able to preach doesn t yet mean you re allowed to preach. You need to be called. And the reverse is true as well. Having the right to do something does not yet mean you have the ability to do it. The show Canada s Worst Driver makes clear that there are people with a driver s license who

6 lack the skills to drive safely. You might be old enough to handle your finances independently, but that doesn t yet mean you can. You might be the ruler of a nation, but that doesn t mean you have the strength to rule just look at Syria and Iraq, or at the Ukraine. Might and power: the right and the ability, when it comes to God, both of those are expressed with the words in heaven. The fact that God is in heaven, is in the capital city of creation, is seated on the throne, tells us that God is indeed in control. He is the Ruler Supreme. And the fact that Jesus the Christ is enthroned at His right hand tells us that Christ is part of that rule. When the Father and the Son send forth the Spirit into the world, that Spirit comes with the authority of the Son and of the Father. God runs things. If I ask God for something, I know for a fact that God has the right to grant my request. God is in heaven. It also tells us God has power. Heaven, today, is the place where evil is banned. The devil used to have access to heaven but he does so no more. God has proven Himself to be Almighty, allpowerful. Whatever God might want to do, He is also able to do it. God can do unimaginably more than we ask or imagine, we read in Scripture (Eph 3:20). God can do all things. If I ask God for something, I know for a fact that God has the ability to grant my request. Our Father in heaven. God is in control and God is capable. That s what we say at the start of every prayer. It sets the tone for our communication with God. Everything I am going to ask of God can be granted me. It makes you think carefully about what you ask. Christ taught us to pray to Our Father in heaven. Beloved, don t just say those words, or however else you may address God in prayer. Let them be an address to God from the heart. The first words to your prayer are not a title. Often it seems that way. Almighty God, eternal Father. Lord, When said like that, Almighty God, eternal Father is not an address. They are just words. No, use them as an address, the way a child may say Da-ad. Let the address be meaningful, let the words you use set the tone for your prayer. And chose words that express what we have heard this afternoon. Words that express who God is, your relationship with God, the communal character of your prayer, both childlike reverence and trust as well as awareness of God s might and power. Pray meaningfully. Thankfully God s own Son taught us how to pray to our Father. Follow His instruction and be assured: Your heavenly Father will be listening. Amen.