Broadway Christian Church ·Columbia, Missouri

Morning Worship ·August 14, 2005

Prayer of the Day

Lord Jesus, we pray for your family.  We pray for your kingdom to come.  As we worship this hour, help us to hear your call to be faithful to your way of love, first believing, and then following you as our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

ScriptureMatthew 6:7-13

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask him.

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed by your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

and forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.

Amen.

Message
Our Father
Rick Frost

In the movie Meet the Parents, Greg Focker, played by Ben Stiller, has just met his future in-laws.  It’s very clear early in the movie that his future father-in-law is not real excited about the possible marriage of his daughter, whom he loves very much, to Greg.  There’s just not anybody in the world, so far, that has been good enough for his daughter.  Has anybody else run into this in your life?

We’ve had this sort of disastrous introduction.  The family has this beautiful setting at the table.  They’re all going to sit down and have dinner together.  Whereupon the future father-in-law, Jack (played by Robert DeNiro) invites Greg to pray before the meal.

Now it’s fairly obvious Greg is probably not accustomed to praying, and needless to say, certainly not in public.  I don’t know whether you’ve ever had that happen to you.  He’s caught off guard, but he wants to make a good impression on this family that he’s trying to make inroads with, and so he recovers by saying this: “Oh, I’d love to, Jack.  I’ve said grace at many a dinner table.” 

He folds his hands, and Greg begins to pray like this:

“OK, oh… dear… God.  Thank you.  You are such a… good God… kind, gentle, accommodating.  And we… thank you… oh, sweet… sweet… Lord of Hosts.  For this smorgasbord… you have aptly lain at our table… this day… and each day… by day… day by day… by day.  Oh, dear Lord… three things we pray… to love Thee more dearly… to see… Thee more clearly, to follow Thee more nearly day by day… by day… by day.  Amen.”

He had just heard that song on the radio a few minutes before dinner.  The mother was absolutely moved by the beauty of that prayer.  Jack (DeNiro) said, “Thank you, Greg, that was very interesting.”

As most of you know, praying daily is one of the Eight Keys to Discipling around here.  We have Eight Keys that help us grow as followers of Christ.  My guess is that most of us could use a little help with our praying.  Hopefully we understand and know that we’re not alone.  Even Jesus’ disciples needed guidance and instruction.  They asked him, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”

And Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:  “Our Father…”

Now, here’s the prayer that we say in church every Sunday.  Many people say that prayer every single day.  We know it like we know the back of our hands.  Some of us have had this prayer on our lips since we can remember.  It’s just part of the fabric of our spiritual lives.  We grew up with it.  

But like so many things that become routine-ized in the day-to-day, week-to-week stuff of living, its meaning and its power can be lost so easily.  Do you have any idea what you’re saying, what you’re praying, what you’re doing when you and I toss these amazing words around?

I dug into this prayer a little bit this past week.  I wanted to see what some of the scholars had to say about it.  I was absolutely amazed.  Do you know that when you and I pray this prayer… when we teach this prayer to our children… when we say these words on Sunday or any other day… you and I are literally playing with dynamite?  Did you know that?  Did you know uttering this prayer is one of the most radical, revolutionary, counter-cultural, subversive things you can do as a Christian in this world?  Did you know that?

Frederick Buechner, Christian theologian and author, says that to pray this prayer is to “unleash a power that makes the atomic weapon look like a warm breeze.”

Did you ever think of that when you’re praying the Lord’s Prayer?  Folks, the Lord’s Prayer is huge.  It’s big.  It’s hairy.  It’s audacious.  Just the thought of what would happen if the people – just the people in this room, the Christians in this congregation – prayed this prayer, word for word, took this prayer word for word to heart, put this prayer into some form of motion, if we were willing and available to be empowered to do what this prayer says, causes me to tremble, quite frankly.  It scares the dickens out of me.

That $2.2 million we’ve been talking about would probably be taken care of by the time the sun goes down tonight.  Columbia would be transformed.  Jefferson City wouldn’t know what hit it.  Jerry Falwell and his scary buddies would wish they’d never heard the name of Jesus.  I can’t even go there.

The Lord’s Prayer is big, folks.  It’s really big!  Most of us have absolutely no idea how big this prayer is.

Now, obviously, today we’re only going to scratch the surface, but we can begin.  We can begin with just two words that somehow make this prayer bearable.  Two words:  “Our Father.”

There’s a lot of power in those two words.  A lot of power!  Did you know that?  But even if you know it, and I know it, there is a lot of confusion.  There’s a lot of resistance.  There’s even rejection, especially of the second word, and there’s a reason.  Because some of us here and some of us in the world, indeed, many of us even in this room have struggled with, are struggling today, with very imperfect, very human earthly fathers.  And some of them are anything but God-like, and so to associate those two things causes many people a great deal of pain.

Take today’s generation, for instance.  Thirty per cent of today’s generation grew up without a father of any kind in their lives at all in this culture.  Did you know that?  Thirty per cent.  That’s one in three.  Fifty per cent of you grew up in families of divorce in which your fathers generally played a minor role, if any, in your life.  So, hey, if you have a good, loving dad who is playing a major role in your life, or did at one time, then you need to know that you are a blessed person in this world.  But for many folks, there’s a lot of pain when we say the word “Father.”  We have to be honest about that pain.  We have to be honest about it, if we’re going to pray to God in a prayer that addresses God as Father.

But, being honest about it is just Step One.  We also have to get past that.  OK?  We have to get past that pain.  I know people who are stuck there.  We have to get past that, because, quite frankly, the Creator Of All That Is is not the kind of father most of us know.  In fact, the God of Scripture is not very much like even the best father any of us ever had nor can we imagine.  Indeed, when we look at Scripture, we see a whole new image of what a father is about as far as the Bible is concerned.  It is an image that goes way beyond our experience of our earthly fathers.

Indeed, it shows up for the very first time in the book of Exodus, the Hebrew Scriptures that some people call the Old Testament.  It’s in Exodus 4:22.  There we hear the story of Israel, God’s people, a people blessed, says Scripture, a people chosen by God because of the faith of one person.  Remember his name?  Abraham.  A people that God has chosen to be his showcase, not only to their own people, but also to the entire rest of the world, a people who are supposed to be a model of what it’s supposed to mean to be related to the Creator Of All That Is, and to be related to our brothers and sisters all around the world.  That is why Israel exists, according to the Old Testament, according to Hebrew Scripture.  That’s the reason for their being.

As you know, the Hebrew Scriptures tell a story about these people in a particular time and place.  Sometimes they do what God wants them to do.  Sometimes they don’t do what God wants them to do.  Things pretty well go according to how those decisions were made and how those people lived.  At this particular time in the book of Exodus, we find Israel, God’s people, enslaved by Pharaoh.  You know this story.  The King of Egypt has power over the Israelites. 

Now, slavery, as you know, was a common practice in the ancient world.  What you may not know is that it’s still a very common practice in much of the world that you and I live in today – sweatshops, conscription, child labor, sex slaves, just to name a few.  It is all around the globe.  But according to the book of Exodus, God has a plan for God’s people, and slavery is not part of it.

You know the story.  God calls a guy named Moses and says, “I want you to go to Pharaoh.  I want you to go to the king.  I want you to go to the powers that be, the guy in charge, and I want you to deliver this message.  Say these words: ‘Thus says the Lord.  Israel is my first-born son.  Let my son go, so that he can worship me.’”

Now, what is so interesting and makes this text so significant is that it’s the very first time in all of Scripture that God identifies God’s self as the parent of a child.  Did you know that?  Up to that point, Scripture has talked about Creator, Sustainer, Judge, Redeemer.  These are awesome images, but, you know, it just didn’t go far enough.

Think of it this way.  Michelangelo was a great artist.  I have had the great honor of seeing some of his incredible, priceless works of art.  I’ve stood before his great sculpture of David in Florence.  I’ve seen, as have you, photographs and picture of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and I know there are people in this world who dream of, who salivate, who fantasize about possibly having one of those priceless works of art on their wall.  It’s true.  His art is masterful.  It’s unbelievable.  It’s also true that you can learn a lot about that artist by admiring, loving, being inspired by his work.  But you know what?  You can be inspired by it.  You can look at it until the cows come home, but you still don’t know the artist.  Can you even imagine what it would be like to actually meet, and know, and visit with, and interact with Michelangelo?

Well, evidently, God understood this.  God wanted God’s people to know God.  Not just to know about him, but to know God.  Not just to speak about him, but to speak to God.  So, God gets involved at a deeper level.  For the first time in all of Scripture, God calls us “children” and God calls God’s self “parent.”  God says, “Father.”

Now, this is a Father with a mission, and that mission is very unique.  The mission of our Father in the book of Exodus was to set his children free.  That was the mission.  From here on out, whenever Israel, the people of God, spoke, whenever the Church of Jesus Christ called, “Father,” that is what they were talking about.  It’s not about gender.  Get over that.  Get past that.  It’s not about gender!  It’s about a God who wants to free his children, to free them from whatever enslaves them.  Oppression.  Whatever holds them down.  From the Pharaohs of this world.  That’s the job of the Father.  That’s what God does.  God works for the freedom of his children, and our job is to know him and to get acquainted with him, and in knowing him, to live as his children.  When we do, God works for our freedom within us, whatever keeps us from and separates us from God and from each other.

The question today is: What’s that in your life?  What Pharaoh is rattling your chain?  See… There are a lot of them around.  There are a lot of Pharaohs.  There are a lot of things keeping us from God.  There are a lot of things keeping us from being with each other the way we’re supposed to be with each other.  What’s that Pharaoh?  Who is rattling your chain?

Is it your health?  I know some people whose health has made them bitter, sad, angry.  They’ve isolated themselves, not relating to others, and not relating to God.  Sad!

Is it your relationships?  Is it your past?  Is it some of the things you are afraid of?  Is it your lifestyle?  Is it your enemies?  Is it your government?  Is it your financial condition?  What is it?  What Pharaoh is rattling your chain?  What I want you to hear today is that the Father wants you to be free from whatever it is that’s got you rattled.

Now, we call this Pharaoh “sin.”  Now, that’s a very tough word for today’s people, because it has so much baggage.  But what I want you to hear is that “sin” is really a very good word.  It’s a very positive word.  It’s a very powerful word, because, as the scholars say, at its fundamental root, the word “sin” means “separation.”  Did you know that?  Separation. 

In the Bible, “sin” means “being separated from God.”  In the Bible, being “sinful” means to be “separated from your neighbor, from members of your family, from people in your community, from people around the globe.”  That’s what “sin” means in the Bible, and God the Father wants us back.  God wants to bring us home, to close that gap, to overcome whatever it is that separates us from one another and from God.  That’s why Jesus said, “The greatest commandment of all is this: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself.” 

When we pray, we don’t pray, “My Father.”  We don’t pray, “Your Father.”  We don’t pray, “The Father.”  We pray, “Our Father.”  Two words.  Those are two words that say we’re doing everything we can to be in the right relationship with God and the right relationship with our brothers and sisters in this world.

It’s a powerful prayer, folks.  We’ve only gotten to two words of it.  It’s a prayer that if prayed and meant would unleash the power that “makes the atomic weapon look like a warm breeze.”

That’s why I want to try something new today.  I’m going to ask you in just a minute to pray this prayer with me again.  I know you’ve heard it three times, and I know that what I’m going to ask you to do may be a little unnerving to some.  I’m going to ask you to stand in a minute and grab a hand.  I know there are some of you who have walked in here for the very first time, and you have no idea who is sitting next to you.  You don’t want to put your hand in theirs.  I know some of you are a little uncomfortable with this “touchy, feely” stuff, but I’m going to ask you to grab a hand of the persons next to you, anyway.  I want you to do it as a sign.  I want you to do it as a symbol, a signal to us and to others that when we pray this prayer as Christians, there is no separation between us.  Wow!  Disagreements?  Yes.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but there is no separation.  When you pray that prayer, regardless of what’s going on at home, or elsewhere, I want you to know and I want to remind myself that you and I, folks, are children of God. 

God’s children look like a family.  They act like a family.  They pray like a family.  By that, I mean that they do it as people who are free.  Just know what a blessing that is to be free to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love every single other person the way we love ourselves.  That’s a big order, and we need each other. 

Stand up.  Grab a hand with me.  Pray with me this prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.  Amen.

And we can all be seated as we all say together… “Amen.”

Benediction

Listening Lord, help us to be deliberate in choosing our prayerful moments with you.  Let us realize that every moment of every day is an opportunity to talk to you, to give you thanks, and to seek your wisdom.  Thank you for the way that prayer wraps us in your arms.  Amen.