Every month I write a newsletter for Union Park Presbyterian Church. I thought I would share them on the website.
"Who one believes God to be is most accurately revealed not in any credo but in the way one speaks to God when no one else is listening."
Nancy Mairs
Dear Community and Friends of Union Park Presbyterian Church,
This summer we are working our way through the Lord’s Prayer. When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray he responds by telling them:
“Pray in this way: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” (Luke 11:2-4)
You’ll notice Luke’s version is slightly different from Matthew’s version which is the version we use in our Sunday worship service (Matthew 6:9-13). But, they cover the same basic elements. And they begin in the same way: Father. Jesus invites us to think of God as a Father. It is the title Jesus himself uses when referencing God.
Father is a family word. It denotes a relationship between a parent and a child. What does it mean to think of God as a Father, as a parent? I realize the word “Father” can conjure up all kinds of images for us - earthly fathers all fall short, and some in terrible ways. It is true that some fathers abandon families, abuse families, and neglect families. But, the opposite is also true, some fathers remain steadfast and faithful, provide care and love and are engaged. But, regardless of how well our earthly father’s have parented us, Jesus invites us to think of God as our Father in heaven. God is perfect, steadfast, faithful, knows our needs and wants us to flourish.
In Romans 8, Pauls says this:
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba![l] Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Paul says we have been adopted by God. We are God’s children with full inheritance rights. He says if we are children we are “joint heirs with Christ.” And what is Jesus’ inheritance? Everything. Jesus has received everything from God and we are co-heirs with Jesus.
Nancy Mairs says that you can tell how someone thinks about God by listening to their prayers. Do we speak to God as if God is a billion miles away and disinterested in the world? Do we speak to God as if God is some impersonal force? Do we speak to God as a child does to a parent? Paul says that we have received a “spirit of adoption” rather than a “spirit of fear.”
David Powlison tells a story of friends of his that went to Russia to adopt a child. They spent a week in a remote village working through all the red-tape and legal work needed for the adoption. When they finally met the boy they were going to adopt they noticed that he looked malnourished and likely received mostly tea instead of milk as an infant. As they interacted with him they weren’t sure if there might be some development issues because of the lack of human contact in his first several months of life. But, on the day of the court hearing the judge explained the proceedings and then asked the couple the question: “Do you wish to adopt this child into your family?” The husband was overwhelmed with emotion and his mouth went dry and he was unable to speak. But, his wife cried out, “We’ll take him! We’ll take him!” And they did. And from that moment on he was in the family. He didn’t have to earn his way into the family. He didn’t have to prove his worth. He immediately was loved. He immediately was given the same last name. He immediately was welcomed in the family home, to the family table. He immediately had full inheritance rights.
This is what God has done for us. In Jesus, he declares to us, “We’ll take him!” or “We’ll take her!” And so we pray, “Our Father.”