On Earth as it is in Heaven (The Father We All Have) pt2
All Scripture reference taken from the New Living Translation
Last week we started this series on the Lord’s Prayer by laying the groundwork for the next several weeks with the fact that we were created for connection...
We were created for relationship... With our Creator and each other...
We learned in 1 Peter 2:5 that those who place their faith in Jesus become living stones in the spiritual temple God is building...
We are living stones being placed in the house God is building for eternity...
This tells us that we are all connected, as we each have a specific role to play in the house God is building for eternity, as He is reconciling us back to Himself through Jesus...
In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus is teaching to a large crowd and He says this...
Matthew 6:7-8 - When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him!
Then He goes on with what we call the Lord’s Prayer...
Before we get into the first line of the prayer, Jesus is teaching us not to use repetitive words when praying to God...
Because He knows exactly what we need before we even ask Him...
So, do you think it would be safe to say that our Father in heaven would like to just have a conversation with us?
If we were created for connection... Connecting with our Creator and with each other...
Then maybe we should enter into a conversation with God before we lay out our list of requests...
Now you might say, “Well Chip, the Lord’s Prayer isn’t exactly a conversation” ...
And you are correct, but what it is, is a way for us to connect with our Creator and focus on some of the attributes of who God is...
As the Lord’s Prayer could just be a way to get us in the right frame of mind before we get the conversation started...
So, let’s begin unpacking the Lord’s Prayer starting with the first verse...
Matthew 6:9 - Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy.
NKJV - Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
In essence, Jesus just broke all the rules here when it comes to referring to God...
He just brought God Almighty to a personal level we can all relate to...
Prior to this, God was not necessarily referred to as a Father... In the OT God is only described as a Father about 15 times!
4,000 years of history and only about 15 times is God referred to in such a personal way as a Father...
You see, in the ancient days people didn’t think of God as a father... He was thought of more as a Creator, or the Almighty One...
He was thought of as a force or a power to be revered than a person to be honored.
And then Jesus comes along... God Himself in the flesh... And says, when you pray...
Pray like this, “Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy.”
He begins referring to God as a Father more and more in the Gospels... Bringing people into a relationship with God on more of a personal level...
What He is saying with the Lord’s Prayer... Is that God is a person to be honored and loved, not a power or a force to be afraid of...
But there is also another issue, or tension some people may have with this...
Many people do not, or did not have a good earthly father...
Maybe your earthly father was hard to please... Maybe he was unreasonable, unreliable, distant, combative, maybe as far as to say abusive...
What happens is, we then take the experience of that broken earthy relationship with a father and transfer it over to what a relationship with a heavenly Father will be like.
In other words, we cannot comprehend how a heavenly Father is going to be any different, or any better…
If that speaks to you today, my prayer is that comparison to a heavenly Father is broken today!!!
Because here’s the deal... We all have a different earthly father and a different earthly home environment we grew up in...
But we all have the same heavenly Father... And the good news that comes with this... is that He is a good Father who loves all of His children!
Pretty much every person we meet here on earth will let us down in some way or another...
The question is, what are we going to do with that... How will we react?
But our heavenly Father... The Father that we all have... Will never let us down... Ever!!
Psalm 103:13-14 - The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear (Honor) Him. For He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust.
God the Father has a love for us that we will never be able to comprehend this side of heaven... It’s unimaginable... It’s unconditional...
The root meaning of the Hebrew word for Compassion implies action...
Compassion is not merely a feeling, but an emotion that inspires action...
Like a good Father... Our heavenly Father... The Father we all have, is gentle, loving, and cares for us with compassion beyond what any of us can imagine...
He knows that we are frail... Made of dust... That we experience illness, aches, pains, disease and weakness... And that we are tempted by sin...
We live in broken world where everything is fractured due to sin and the devil...
And yet, none of that is lost on Him because He created us... And is waiting for the day when we will spend eternity with Him in our glorified bodies...
Bodies that will not corrupt... Bodies that are not frail or made from dust...
But in the meantime... All those who call upon His name in truth... All those who call upon God the Father through His Son, Jesus...
Will experience His grace, mercy, and compassion... Because He cares for us...
1 Peter 5:7 - Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
There is nothing that God is not concerned about with us... Nothing!
From minor concerns to a major crisis... The Bible tells us to give all our worries and cares to God... All our anxieties!!
There is nothing we face in life that our heavenly Father is not concerned about!
Psalm 138:8 (NKJV) – The Lord will perfect that which concerns me...
Matthew 6:31-32 - “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.”
Our Father in heaven knows exactly what we need before we even ask!
Church, we need to get this into our hearts, so it stays... The moment we begin to doubt or worry about God’s love for us should be an internal warning light...
We cannot base our relationship with God off our emotions... Or how we are feeling with a certain moment...
We must base our relationship with God off the Scriptures...
And the Scriptures tells us that He is a loving Father who has compassion for every single one of us...
He cares for us so much that He wants us to give all our worries and concerns to Him...
1 John 4:18 - Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love.
Perfect love casts out all fear... Perfect love expels fear... This means God’s perfect love... The perfect love of our heavenly Father removes all judgment...
The moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are no longer under the judgment of our sinful nature… We are no longer under the judgment of God!
As followers of Jesus, we should never be afraid of His judgment coming upon us...This is a truth we can hold on to...
For He is our Father in heaven whose name should be kept holy and is to be revered...
His name should not be in the same sentence as cuss words... And His name should not also be used inappropriately (Oh my God!) ...
We all have an earthly experience in life, and we all have things we are battling...
Sometimes those experiences and battles try to keep us in the mess, and will not allow for us to set our sights on a victory in Jesus...
When we feel like we’re being dragged back into the old mindset of defeat and anxiousness...
We often must dig deep and get into the Scriptures in order for the truth of God’s Word to fill us with peace and victory!
2 Corinthians 5:17 - ... Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Jeremiah 6:16 - This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.” ...
Church... We are new people in Jesus... The old us is gone...
Whenever we find ourselves going back to those ways... Or transferring a broken earthly relationship in place of that which is a perfect heavenly relationship...
We need not look any further than the saints of old... The prophets, the psalmists... The disciples...
Stand at the crossroads and invite Jesus to look around with you... Ask Him to help you get back on the godly way and walk in it... Travel its path and you will find rest for your soul!!!
There is no greater love than that of our heavenly Father...
He is never too busy for us, and never too far from us...
Psalm 145:18 - The Lord is close to all who call on Him...
He is good, and perfect, and never changes...
James 1:17 - Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
He is always there to rescue us when we are hurting...
Psalm 34:18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
Passages like these speak to the Personhood of our Father in heaven...
He is not some unseen power or force... He is a personable God who understands how complex, but yet, how frail we are...
I would encourage everyone to study the person of Jesus in the Gospels, so that we can gain an understanding of how much He really does relate to mankind...
How much He relates to and understands each one of us...
Hebrews 4:16 - So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
This is who, “Our Father in heaven is... Whose name should be kept holy.”
In Closing...
1 Timothy 2:5-6 - There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus. He gave His life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.
And it is Jesus who is teaching us how to pray...
It is Jesus who is teaching us how to enter into a conversation with our heavenly Father...
Jesus is teaching us to focus on our Father in heaven, as His name should be kept holy... God the Father should be honored...
And it is Jesus who is the Mediator between us and our Father in heaven...
But not only that... We should focus on Him and meditate on who He is because He is consistent... He is close... He is caring... He is perfect...
And He is everybody’s heavenly Father...
But... He does not force us to be in His family... He does not automatically place us as living stones in the house that He is building for eternity...
We must make the conscience decision to say that we want Him to be our heavenly Father...
And the only way for that to happen is through Jesus...
Accepting what Jesus did for us on the Cross and placing our faith in Him...
We cannot get to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6), as He is the way, the truth, and the life!
“Paul Revere’s Ride”
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Image from National Archives at Wikipedia
The Background
Longfellow is generally credited with making Paul Revere a national legend in his 1860 verses. Before Longfellow’s poem, Revere was a little known silversmith. Though the poem has many merits, it should be noted that Longfellow did not intend for it to be historically accurate. For example, you may be surprised to learn that Revere never actually made it to Concord (rather his companion Samuel Prescott did). He was captured by the British but later escaped.
The Poem
Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, “If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower, as a signal light, — One, if by land, and two, if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country-folk to be up and to arm.” Then he said “Good-night!” and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset, British man-of-war; A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Across the moon like a prison-bar, And a huge black hulk, that was magnified By its own reflection in the tide. Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street Wanders and watches with eager ears, Till in the silence around him he hears The muster of men at the barrack door, The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, And the measured tread of the grenadiers, Marching down to their boats on the shore. Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church, By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, To the belfry-chamber overhead, And startled the pigeons from their perch On the somber rafters, that round him made Masses and moving shapes of shade, — By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, To the highest window in the wall, Where he paused to listen and look down A moment on the roofs of the town, And the moonlight flowing over all. Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, In their night-encampment on the hill, Wrapped in silence so deep and still That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread, The watchful night-wind, as it went Creeping along from tent to tent, And seeming to whisper, “All is well!” A moment only he feels the spell Of the place and the hour, the secret dread Of the lonely belfry and the dead; For suddenly all his thoughts are bent On a shadowy something far away, Where the river widens to meet the bay, — A line of black, that bends and floats On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats. Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. Now he patted his horse’s side, Now gazed on the landscape far and near, Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, And turned and tightened his saddle-girth; But mostly he watched with eager search The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, As it rose above the graves on the hill, Lonely and spectral and somber and still. And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height A glimmer, and then a gleam of light! He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight A second lamp in the belfry burns! A hurry of hoofs in a village street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet: That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night; And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat. He has left the village and mounted the steep, And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep, Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides; And under the alders that skirt its edge, Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides. It was twelve by the village clock, When he crossed the bridge into Medford town. He heard the crowing of the cock, And the barking of the farmer’s dog, And felt the damp of the river fog, That rises after the sun goes down. It was one by the village clock, When he galloped into Lexington. He saw the gilded weathercock Swim in the moonlight as he passed, And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare, Gaze at him with a spectral glare, As if they already stood aghast At the bloody work they would look upon. It was two by the village clock, When he came to the bridge in Concord town. He heard the bleating of the flock, And the twitter of birds among the trees, And felt the breath of the morning breeze Blowing over the meadows brown. And one was safe and asleep in his bed Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Who that day would be lying dead, Pierced by a British musket-ball. You know the rest. In the books you have read, How the British regulars fired and fled, — How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farm-yard wall, Chasing the red-coats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load. So through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm, — A cry of defiance and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo forevermore! For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, Through all our history, to the last, In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear The hurrying hoof-beat of that steed, And the midnight-message of Paul Revere.
- Why are there no knock-knock jokes about America? Because freedom rings.
- What does the Statue of Liberty stand for? It can’t sit down.
- Why did Paul Revere ride his horse from Boston to Lexington? Because the horse was too heavy to carry.
- What did the colonists wear to the Boston Tea Party? Tea-shirts.
- What is the most popular dance in 1776? Indepen-dance.
- Which colonists told the most jokes? The Punsylvanians.
- What was the difference between a duck and George Washington? One has a bill on his face, and the other has his face on a bill.
- What do you call an American revolutionary who draws cartoons? A Yankee Doodler.