The Lord's Prayer: A Revolutionary Prayer

With this posting I am beginning a series on the Lord’s Prayer.  Some Christians pray this prayer every Sunday in their churches, some see it as a model for framing their own prayers, some seem to pray as if they’d never heard of it.  Whether it is familiar to you or new to you, I hope to open up this prayer and help you appreciate it for the work of grace it is.  This first message in the series takes into account the context in which Jesus introduced the prayer.

Matthew 6:5-13

Studies from the mid-1990s suggest that one in four American women will be sexually abused before her eighteenth birthday, usually by her father. (The sexual abuse of boys is much less common, the incidence being about one in twenty-five.)  No wonder such women often find it difficult to offer a prayer to any “Father.”  Their resistance should not be treated lightly.  They deserve our compassion and our understanding.  To simply dismiss their concerns betrays a callousness that ought not to be part of the make-up of Christ’s followers.

At the same time, many other women feel the prayer reflects a patriarchal worldview, which minimizes the worth of women.  A sermon such as this doesn’t afford us the opportunity to respond adequately to that charge.  Instead, let me urge you do read books like Amy Orr-Ewings Is the Bible Intolerant?  I’ll simply say that, while there is no doubt that some in the Christian church have tried to use the Bible to oppress women, they have done so in contradiction to the overall spirit of the Bible.  Properly understood, the Bible is one of the most pro-woman books of the ancient world.

All of this leads to a question we need to address before we move on.   What gender is God?  The very question reflects a failure to understand God’s nature.  God is personal and we cannot conceive a personal being as an “it”.  While, to some degree, this may be a problem linked to English, there is no doubt the Biblical imagery for God is primarily male, King and Father being clear examples.  Some reasons why this is true may be that it reflects the largely patriarchal society in which the Hebrews lived, the Jews believed there was only one God (in contrast to their neighbors) and used the male imagery to describe this God so there would be no confusion with the goddesses of the surrounding nations.  The references to God as a venerable older male may reflect an effort to picture God as One who deserves our respect and honor. 

While the references to God in the Bible are primarily male, there are occasions when God is referred to in feminine images.  In Isaiah 66:12-13, God is pictured as a mother caring for the restored nation following its captivity.

Like babies you will be nursed and held in my arms

and bounced on my knees.

^I will comfort you

as a mother comforts her child.

You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”^[1]

  Brian McLaren offers an answer to the problem that deals with it from a theological perspective:

“If some overmasculinize in their image of God (according to dominate, war-like, or hot-tempered stereotypes), we aren’t helping ourselves and our children to swing to the opposite extreme by overfeminizing God (according to some list of contrasting stereotypes), and neither are we helping by trying to ‘neuter’ God….  God, in whose image male and female were created, must include all authentically masculine and feminine qualities and at the same time transcend them.”[2]

The Old Testament presents a long list of human fathers who failed in carrying out their responsibilities.  "Overshadowing everything is the image of a heavenly Father who deals with his human children as human fathers were created to do.”  (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.) 

Remember that this prayer is addressed to “Our Father in heaven.”  Jesus is not giving us the Father’s address.  He is saying something about the character of the Father.  Heaven is a place of perfection;    God is the perfect Father.  In this, God stands in contrast to our earthly fathers.  Later, Jesus would say, “There isn’t a person among you who would give his son a stone if he asked for bread, is there?  Or if he asks for a fish, he wouldn’t give him a snake, would he?   So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who keep on asking him.” 

What does Jesus mean by describing these earthly parents as “you who are evil?”  I don’t believe he means their intentions are evil, that they are the kind of parents you’d see talked about on Nancy Grace or inspiring a CSI episode.  Jesus knew such parents existed.  As a first-century Jew, he certainly knew about Herod the Great.  In fact, his mother may have told him of the family’s flight to Egypt to escape the paranoid king.  Herod murdered his wife and at least two of his sons because he feared they were plotting against him.  That prompted the emperor to quip, “It is safer to be Herod’s pig than to be Herod’s son.”  Jesus knew there were parents who didn’t deserve the title. 

Jesus is reminding us that all earthly parents are flawed, even the best of them.  Despite the best of intentions, even good parents will fail.  They will do or say the hurtful thing, unintentionally.  My father was a good man;   I can only hope I’m as good.  Yet, he wouldn’t speak up when my mother was venting her temper.  As a result, he allowed other good people to be hurt by her paranoid false accusations.   He kept quiet in order to keep the peace. 

Some of you may have known an absentee father.  The pursuit of a career, the enticements of sports, or sheer selfishness cause such a father to drop-out, to treat his children as if they were somewhere below securing a good tee-time on his list of priorities.  Many young women and young men lack any sense of worth because their own fathers had no time for them.

Ordinarily, we consider it a mark of maturity when children recognize that their parents aren’t perfect, a sign of greater maturity when they forgive those imperfections.  In this maturing process, we grant special grace to those children whose parents have gone beyond simple imperfection to iniquity.  We aren’t as quick to ask them to lay aside their hurt and act as if it was all a big misunderstanding.

But, whether our fathers simply embarrassed us in front of our homecoming date or made our childhood a nightmare, there is one truth we all should strive to embrace:  God is not an earthly father grown large.  God stands as a model for earthly fathers;  the earthly father is not a model for God.

  While I sympathize with those who resist praying “Our Father” because their fathers were physically, psychologically, or even sexually abusive, I believe it is possible for them—by that very Father’s grace—to  achieve a new appreciation for this prayer when they understand that Jesus is portraying God as a Father should be. 

When we understand this we’ll see that Jesus is setting forth

A Revolutionary New Way of Praying.

Nowhere in Old Testament and rarely in the Jewish literature written between end of the Old Testament period and the birth of Christ, was God addressed as Father.  When God was addressed as “Father” it was in the sense of source.   We refer to George Washington as “the father of our country” but we don’t suggest we have a familial relationship with him.  When Jesus made it a habit to address
God as Father in his own prayer life and urged his followers to do the same, he initiated a revolution in prayer.  D. A. Carson says,

The overwhelming tendency in Jewish circles was to multiply titles ascribing sovereignty, lordship, glory, grace, and he like to God.  Against such a background, Jesus habit of addressing God as his own Father and teaching his disciples to do the same could only appear familiar and presumptuous to opponents, personal and gracious to followers.  Unfortunately, many modern Christians find it very difficult to delight in the privilege of addressing the Sovereign of the universe as ‘Father’ because they have lost the heritage that emphasizes God’s transcendence.

 The very word Jesus uses underscores the revolutionary character of what he was teaching.  He uses the term derived from Abba.   No previous teacher in Judaism ever used this word for God.  The Hebrew/Aramaic word for “father” is Ab, as in names like Abraham, “the father of nations.”  Abba is the word you would hear in the family setting, a word used by young children.  It roughly translates to “daddy” or “papa.” Without ever suggesting the believer should approach God irreverently, Jesus invites them to approach God with a sense of confidence.  

Jesus not only urged us to address God as “Father,” he taught that God was fatherly.  This is a Father who is eager to hear from his children.   This picture of God stands in contrast to that of gods who must be persuaded by “many words.”  Those who worship such gods “imagine the more they say the more likely they are to be heard.”    Jesus’ knew there were those who turned prayer into a sham.  Sometimes they had been taught these bad habits by their own rabbis.   Of course, many Jewish teachers condemned the same practices Jesus condemned, but it was sometimes hard to convince people that their supposed eloquence was less effective than simple words from a sincere heart.

--Some Jews simply repeated the Shema again and again, like a mantra, believing that would lead to greater spirituality.

--Some rabbis of Jesus’ day taught that the longer the prayer, the more effective it would be. Rabbi Levi said, “Whoever is long in prayer is heard.”

--Among the non-Jews there were those who would work themselves into a frenzy by the repetition of a single word or phrase.  Sometimes they would do this until they fell from exhaustion.

Jesus’ approach to prayer is far different.  God knows our needs—before we ask—and he desires communion with us and the opportunity to meet our needs.  Why, then, do we need to pray at all?  It’s a question plenty of people ask.  To a degree, it is to remind us of our dependence upon God.  Just as important, perhaps more important, it assures that we regularly stand in the presence of our Father-King.

For that man or woman who has known abuse at the hands of an earthly father, this presents a remarkable possibility.  They have the unprecedented opportunity of standing in the presence of an all-powerful father and feeling perfectly safe.

Just as significant, all of us have the joy of coming to a Father who is reliable.  He understands our needs.  When we come to him, he will provide for our spiritual and physical needs.  He will give us a sense of purpose that links us to something bigger than we are. 

When Jesus invites us to pray to God as Father, he reminds us we have a new identity. 

Jamie Buckingham tells this story.

Fred Craddock was a teacher at Phillips Seminary.  Craddock had been lecturing at Princeton; as he and his wife were heading back to Oklahoma, they were looking forward to some time alone. On the drive back to Oklahoma, they had stopped at a restaurant in Tennessee.  An old man was wandering from table to table and eventually reached them.  He told them his name was Ben and asked if they were enjoying themselves. When the old man asked Fred what he did for a living, Fred saw the chance to get rid of him - "I'm a preacher."

" That's great,” Ben said, “Let me tell you a story about a preacher."

The old man sat down at their table and started to his story.   He explained that he had been born to an unmarried young woman in a small town.  This was early in the 20^th century and it was a tough time for a youngster like Ben.  He grew up to stares, whispers, and name-calling.  School was a nightmare of teasing. 

One day a new preacher came to the local church.   Ben went to church almost every week but he came in late and left before the benediction was finished.  He was too ashamed to hang around.   But one Sunday the preacher finished his prayer before Ben could get away.    He was trying to get to the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  

He turned around to see the preacher looking down at him asking, "What's your name, boy?  Whose son are you?"

The very thing Ben wanted to avoid was happening. But before he could say anything the preacher said "I know who you are.  There's a distinct family resemblance. Why, you’re a son of God!"  Then the preacher added, “You’ve got a great heritage, live up to it.”

The old man sitting at Fred Craddock's table said "You know, mister, those words changed my life". And with that he got up and moved on to another table.

When the waitress came over she whispered to Craddock and his wife, "Do you know who that was?"

"No" they replied.

"That was Ben Hooper, the two-term governor of Tennessee."

When we place our faith in Christ, we enter a new relationship with God.  A privilege of that new relationship is the opportunity of praying this prayer.  When you and I pray this prayer, we should remember that each of us—no matter how bitter our past or difficult our present—is a child of God.

---

^[1] The Holy Bible : New Century Version , Containing the Old and New Testaments. Dallas, TX : Word Bibles, 1991, S. Is 66:12

[2] A Search for What Makes Sense, Grand Rapids:  Zondervan, 1999,2007, p. 159.

The Pandemic

                  A couple weeks ago I presented a study of the words the Bible uses to describe sin.  I hope that helped clarify the meaning of sin but we need to remember that “sin,” however it is described, is not a problem other people have. 

Romans 3:23

            During much of 1665 a fire raged across England and parts of Europe. It was not a fire of flames and smoke, although that kind of fire would, according to some, prove to be the salvation of the suffering residents of London.  No, this fire was the fire of agonized breathing and raging fever.  This was the plague, a recurrence of the so-called “Black Death” which had ravaged Europe before.

            The plague of 1665 took an estimated 65,000 to 100,000 lives. 

            Each morning wagons rolled through the streets of the larger cities gathering the dead for mass burials.

            Rich, poor, young, and old all fell prey to the plague.

            At the time, not even the best scientific minds could explain its origin.  Some believed the dogs and cats might carry the disease so they recommended killing them, even if the rats they kept away became a problem.  But, in the end, they  just didn’t know where the plague had come from. (If you know your history you know why this reprieve for the rats was a bad idea.)

            The human race is suffering from another disease, one far more deadly than the plague.

            Where did the pandemic called sin come from?

            Any discussion of sin will ultimately lead to the opening chapters of Genesis.

            If we look at the habitat in which God placed the new Creature, the “crown of his creation,’ it’s evident that what took place could not be blamed on the environment (Genesis 2:4-25)             

            --The man and woman seemed to have the same faculties as modern men and women:  Their nature included a social, spiritual, and volitional aspect.  There is evidence of great intelligence.  Adam and Eve don't appear to have been primitive men and women.

            --They possessed a capacity for fellowship with God which seems to exceed that of the greatest saints. 

            --They possessed a capacity for genuine sexual enjoyment without regret, guilt, and abuse which often mars that enjoyment today.

            --They were granted almost unlimited opportunity to use their intelligence and creativity.

            --The freedom was immense and the restrictions were limited.  In fact, there was only one.  They truly lived in paradise.  How long would it last?

            Not long.  The story of the Fall tells of how sin entered the human race. (Genesis 3:1-6:10)

            The story introduces us to a fourth party in the Garden, the serpent.  Later we will learn that this serpent was somehow the tool of Satan. His origin is shrouded in mystery, but it soon becomes clear that Satan is both the enemy of God and humankind.

            His tactics were those displayed again and again in the Scripture.

            --The Target:  The Woman.  Why did Satan target the woman?  Not because she was innately weaker than the Man.  Satan would have been content to bring down either the Man or the Woman, for he probably knew bringing down the one would bring down the other.  

                 Satan's tactics were the same he is seen to use elsewhere:  (1)  He sought to create doubt regarding the validity of God's word,  (2)  He sought to create doubt regarding the goodness God [God is depicted as holding something good back from Man.];  (3) he promised what he could not deliver, equality with God.

           

                        The Woman made her decision on her own.  So far as we know, she did not consult her husband; she certainly did not consult God, despite having regular, intimate fellowship with Him.  Her's was an early example of secularist thinking.

                        There is some hint that the temptation may have been going on for some time.  She finally succumbed.  The course of the failure can be seen as progress from seeing the beauty of the fruit, reflecting on its pleasant aspects, and finally touching it to consume it.

                        Although she did not immediately die, something inside her must have died.  She must have sensed the effect of her disobedience almost immediately, yet she had the Man join her in disobedience.  In so doing she became Satan's vehicle, a tool more effective than the serpent.

            --The Willful Joiner.  Romantics have suggested that Adam, having seen what the woman had done, joined her in disobedience so they would not be separated.  More likely Adam simply chose to listen to one whom he respected, with whom he had shared joy and pleasure, and who--despite her disobedience--had not died.

                        The act of disobedience was simple but it was enough to be a tragedy of cosmic proportions.

           

            (1) Humankind was left with a sense of guilt and shame (v7). 

Here’s John Davis on the impact of their rebellion:

The tempter promised that eating the fruit would open Adam's and Eve's eyes, but he did not say what they would see.  They saw themselves as sinners devoid of their original beauty.  They saw good and evil only from the standpoint of sinners, from the rock-bottom level of corruption.  They became like God in that their natures were fixed, but God was confirmed in holiness while they were confirmed in sinfulness....Seeing their nakedness in a new light, they experienced shame and disgrace.  In a pitiful attempt to replace the radiant garments of their innocence, they sewed together fig leaves.  Man has ever since attempted to cover his guilt and assuage his conscience.  His efforts...still fall far short of God's demands.

            (2)   Humankind experienced separation from God. Where there was once communion, now there was estrangement. 

Think about this.  Once humankind’s relationship with God was so real that God was a Friend with whom you took walks in the park.  In time, some would deny that Friend’s existence.

            (3)  Humans experienced estrangement from one another.

            Do I need offer evidence for this?  Just listen to the nightly news—stories of war, murder, crime…

            (4)   Humans experienced physical death as the  culminate the experience of spiritual death.

   

           

            The Bible makes it clear that somehow, some way, what happened in the Garden has impacted the entire human race.

            Original sin does not mean that every sinner is original.  No sinner is a wicked as he might be, every sinner is wicked enough to demonstrate the universal presence of sin in the human race.

            I’ve never listened to “country music” that much but even I’ve heard of Hank Williams, heard of his hard living, his drinking, his early death.  A few years ago Hank Williams, Jr. responded to the question “Hank, why do you drink?” by saying he was “Keeping Up an Old Family Tradition.”  When you and I sin, we are keeping up an old family tradition.

           

Just how extensive is the problem of sin? 

            Every man, woman, and child carries the heritage of sin.

1.  Much of the Bible is written with the assumption of the universality of human sin.  For example, the sacrificial system of the Old Testament is predicated on the notion of sin.  Even the high priest must provide an offering for his sins.

            The prophets often indicted nations surrounding Israel as well as Isreal itself.

            The universal calls to repentance imply universal sin.

            --Charles Ryder Smith (1953):  "The universality of sin is taken as a matter of fact.  On examination, it will be found that every speech in Acts...and every Epistle just assumes that men have all sinned.  This is also the assumption of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels...Jesus deals with everyone on the assumption, 'Here is a sinner'."

2.  Let’s look at some key passages establish the notion of universal sin:

            --GE 6: The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. … the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

            This assessment of the sinfulness of the human race apparently applies to the entire race.  The indictment of the Anti-diluvian age suggests that humanity was manifesting self-centeredness, violence, and impiety. 

            The subsequent failure of Noah is a stark reminder that human sin did not drown with the Flood. 

            --1KI 8:46  "When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near;

( 2 Chronicles 6:36 is a parallel passage.)

                        --These passages are from Solomon's prayer for the dedication of the new temple.  With admirable honesty he acknowledges that "there is no one who does not sin"--a statement which would include both the nobility and the commoner.  The great promise of revival in 7:14 is, in part, God's response to this prayer.

                        Solomon--wise observer of life--had concluded that sin was a universal aspect of the human race.

            --PS 53:3 Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

                        This psalm deals with those whose lifestyles are lived as if there were no God.  They are secularists from a pre-secular age.  When an individual or a culture abandons God, the results will be devastating.  Excluding God from their lives does not make them sinners, it reveals their sinfulness.

            --PR 20:9 Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?

                        Passage seems to suggest that the best of us have mixed motives and sullied hearts.

            --ECC 7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

                        Although the writer of Ecclesiastes is noted for his dismal portrayal of life, he is simply being a realist.  No hero is beyond the corrupting power of sin.

            --ISA 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

                        In one of the most familiar passages about the Suffering Servant, the prophet lays an indictment against the human race.  We have all willfully abandoned God's will.  We are all sinners.

            --Romans 3:23

                        Probably the most frequently quoted verse on the universality of sin.  The statement comes at the end of a longer passage on the nature and character of sin.  Ralph Earle says, "This is the most definite statement on the subject in the entire Bible."  The language suggests that all have sinned in the past and continue to fall short of "God's glory as he wishes it to be manifested to them and through them."

            A declaration that sin is pandemic, that every person is a sinner, that every culture is in rebellion against God is difficult for some people to accept.  They like to point out that existence of certain simple, loving tribes that don’t share the vices of the West.  These people are considered as proof that sin is not universal.

            Let me try to offer an explanation of what this verse means.

            Maybe you’ve seen the film “The Gods Must Be Crazy”.  The movie introduces us to a tiny African tribe made up of poor but happy, loving men and women.  Their life together is harmonious, free from jealousy and conflict.

            Then, one day, the tribe comes into possession of a strange object:  An empty Coke bottle carelessly thrown out by the pilot of a small plane.

            Knowing nothing about airplanes or litter, the tribe assumes the bottle is a gift from the gods.  The bottle is useful and beautiful.

            Soon trouble begins.  Each member of the tribe wants the bottle for himself or herself.  For the first time jealousy and envy are displayed.  Even though they try passing the bottle around, no one could stand another person having the cherished bottle.

            At last, one of the tribesmen comes to his senses and realizes what is happening.  Concluding that the gods were crazy to give them such a dangerous gift, he resolves to take the bottle to the edge of the world and throw it back to the gods.

            The rest of the movie chronicles his adventures.  As the film concludes, the tribe has returned to normal.

            The film seems to suggest that “things” cause all our problems.  But that interpretation really misses the point.

            What we really discover is that lurking within our souls are monsters like greed, jealousy, resentment, and envy just waiting to be awakened.  Those monsters dwell even in the hearts of those who seem to be the most innocent.

            --GAL 3:22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of  sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

            The "whole world is prisoner to sin" is an indictment of the entire world.         

            In December, 1996, speakers at the World Council of Churches' meeting in Brazil urged Western missionaries to stop their aggressive evangelism techniques because they were destroying indigenous cultures.  As a case in point, the speakers accused missionaries of destroying the native population of Hawaii.

            Such critics do not generally acknowledge the notion of the universality of sin.

            There’s a part of the story they don’t tell.  Hawaii was the first mission field in history where the missionaries voluntarily left because they believed the Hawaiians were ready to take over the work.  The Gospel is often embraced by these non-western peoples with enthusiasm.  The amazing success of the gospel in such cultures suggests that these peoples are keenly aware of their spiritual need.

            The Bible does not call us to deny the good in other cultures or to say that no virtue exists in non-Christian people.  It does demand that we identify sin as sin.  Paul spoke of sin as characterizing both Gentiles and Jews, thus avoiding charges of provincialism.

           

            EPH 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.   All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath).

            These verses open a passage in which Paul describes the work of Christ within the believer.  To underscore the wonder of God’s grace, Paul reminds his readers of their condition before Christ.

REFLECTIONS:

1. The Bible makes no distinction between peoples who possess the Law and those who do not--all are sinners.

2.  Almost every major world religion believes that something is wrong with the human race.  Even new age thinking recognizes that something is wrong, but it does not place it in a moral context.

3.  Honesty demands I admit that even if Adam had not fallen, I am probably fully capable of assuring the presence of sin in the universe.

            A few months ago I was out walking on one of those rare sunny days.  With the sun at my back, I happened to look down.  There, on the sidewalk in front of me, was my father’s shadow.

            When I look at my life in the light of God’s Word, I see Adam’s shadow.

CONCLUSION

            You and I, with nothing more than knowledge gleaned from a high school health class, know more about the spread of disease than the best-trained physician in the 17th century. 

            It would be centuries before science understood how the plague was spread.  We now know the disease was spread from the rats to their fleas and, in turn, to people.  So, when the doctors advised getting rid of the dogs and cats people kept to kill rats, they had no way of knowing that they were aiding in the spread of the disease. 

            Responding to the physicians’ inability to come up with an effective cure, the people tried to find some on their own.  We have a reminder of one of those ineffective cures in a children’s rhyme.

            The original version is a little different than the one we’re familiar with but you’ll recognize it.

Ring a ring of rosies.

a pocket full of posies;

Atisoo, Atisoo,

All fall down!

           

            “A ring of rosies (or roses)” refers to the rash which accompanied the disease.  “Atisoo” refers to the terrible sneezing that overcame the victim just before death.  The deadliness of the disease is recalled in the phrase “All fall down.”

            To what does “a pocket full of posies” refer?  It refers to the belief that a pocket full of flowers would ward off the disease.  It didn’t.

            There have been many foolish and useless attempts to deal with the pandemic we call sin. They have been as effective as a pocket full of wilted flowers.

            The Bible tells us there is only one effective way to deal with sin.  That is through faith in Jesus Christ whose death made it possible for us to experience forgiveness and salvation.