Title: Our Father in Heaven (Matthew 06:9)
Content Prayer is the driving force of our religious life. Those who pray never stumble. A praying family is never unhappy. Children who pray do not perish. A church that prays can grow any number of times, and a nation that prays prospers and develops.
Prayer is the secret to success and victory, and prayer is the key to unlocking the treasures of God's grace and blessings.
Nevertheless, why many people do not pray because they do not immediately realize the importance of prayer and do not know the secret of prayer.
Louis Evli pointed out, “Prayer is an art that modern people have lost” and “Modern people don’t have much time for God.” What is the greatest tragedy for the brothers and sisters? Economic warfare, energy shortage, nuclear risk, AIDS risk, ethnic selfishness, etc. will be raised. But the more fundamental problem is that “they have lost the heart to pray. Modern people who have lost their prayers are caught up in the meaninglessness and emptiness of life. Therefore, while we share grace through the Lord's Prayer, I hope that all the saints will realize the importance of prayer, restore the power of prayer, and become victors in prayer.
Today, we would like to share grace with you, focusing on the words, “Our Father who art in heaven.”
This verse first tells us who the object of prayer is. In order to pray properly, we must know who the object of prayer is. You need to know who he is, what he wants, and what he enjoys. The text clearly reveals that the object of prayer is God. No matter how good the content of prayer, no matter how earnestly we pray, if the target is wrong, it will lead to wrong results or become meaningless prayer.
Ex) Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40) Elijah asked Ahab to bring 450 prophets from all Israel and Baal and 400 prophets from Asherah to Mount Carmel. Elijah wanted to make known to the people who the true God is.
The 450 prophets of Baal and Elijah began to pray on Mount Carmel.
Each of them had a calf on the altar, made a cut, placed it on the altar, and did not put the fire on it.
Elijah told the prophets of Baal to pray first because there are many people, and they pray earnestly. They scream, run around the altar, and pray while injuring themselves with spears and swords. I prayed from morning to evening. But there was no response.
Elijah poured water on the altar three times, dug a trench around the altar to collect water, and prayed to God during the evening meal offering, and he answered with fire.
If you choose the wrong object of prayer, it is easy to become superstitious idolatry. Therefore, the most important thing in prayer is the object of prayer. People have various objects of prayer.
① There are people who pray in their conscience. Socrates said, "I pray to my conscience."
② There are people who pray in the light of light. The Quakers said, “I pray to the light to find the light within me.”
③ Some people pray to nature. The pantheists prayed to Janyan, saying, “Man is God, and nature is God.”
④ Some pray to demons. Shamans fall into this category.
⑤ Some people pray to an unknown god.
In Acts 17:23, the Athenians prayed even to an unknown god.
However, through the Lord's Prayer, Jesus clearly teaches that the object of our prayer is God. How God is revealed in these short words
1. God is the Father.
The rulers of the earth want to be called as exalted as possible. I want you to call them with the greatest honors, such as “Extremely High Emperor!”, “Emperor’s Abandonment”, “Sir”, “Master Chief”, and “Sangje”. But God, the King of kings, wants to be called “Father.”
It is a wonderful blessing that we can call God our Father.
Then, how does God become our father? ① God the Creator Because mankind was created by God, God becomes the father of mankind.
Isaiah 64:8 “O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hands.”
Mal 2:10 “Have we not one Father? Have not we been created by one God” God is our Father because He made us in His image, and He is the source of our life. .
② The God of redemption and calling God “Father” must be understood from the level of redemption beyond the general level. When sin entered Indo, there was no longer a way between God and us to be called a father. In John 8:44 it says, “You are of your father the devil.” Rather than being God's father, they were led by the devil and became those under the curse and wrath that could not even solve the problem of sin. However, because God loved man, he planned to restore our glorious status and status as children of God through Christ.
John 1:12 “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Romans 8:15-16 “You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption. We cry out, Abba, Father. / The Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Because we believe in the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, we become children of God and call ourselves the Father of God.
③ God of Providence Going one step further, God can be called Father in the providential dimension.
God is the God who not only created me, redeemed me, but also guides me. Because God is our Father, He teaches, loves, and protects me as a child, and if I go astray, He disciplines me with the rod of love and scours me. Because he is a father, he supplies when I am in need, takes my sad hand, guides me, provides and guides my path.
God is our Father. For he is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our providence to guide us.
I hope that you will become believers who clearly understand the rationale for calling God the Father, and live by calling ‘Father’ as a child of God based on certain faith.
2. God is in heaven.
This is not just about the astronomical or physical speaking of the stars, the moon, and the sun in that high space. It refers to a divine dimension, a divine space and place. Of course, such a divine space does not refer to a completely different place in which we live. It refers to a space that is distinct while including such a space.
Ex) When it is called “the president of the Blue House,” it does not mean that the president is locked up in the Blue House, it means that he rules Korea.
‘When Clinton says he has taken over the White House, he doesn’t mean that he has taken over the White House, but that he has taken control of America and the whole world.
The meaning of heaven in the Bible is the core of the universe, the place where God's throne is located, and from there, the rule of the universe is realized and God's providence is revealed. Therefore, heaven means the sovereignty and rule of God Himself.
Psalm 115:3 “But our God is in heaven and has done all that He wants.” Almighty God who sovereignly and actively does everything He wants, in that sense, God is in heaven.
2 Chronicles 20:6 “They said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven, do you not rule over all the nations of the Gentiles? “The LORD is in his temple, and his throne is in heaven; his eyes are on men, and their eyes are on them.” Psalm 33:13 “The Lord looks from heaven and sees all men.” Said.
All of these expressions speak of the God who knows everything about me, who knows everything about life, who sees, oversees, and provides for all the hidden wounds of history and the inner world of life, the God who transcends, the God who is free, eternal and omnipotent. will be
The God in heaven can be understood in some ways as a God who is separate from us on earth. But that “God in heaven” is all-powerful, omnipresent, living, present before us, with us, by our side and hearing our prayers.
We believe in the God of the past and the God of the future while we live our faith, but we show uncertain faith in the God of the present. But God is still with us.
The God in heaven is the God who is ‘Immanuel’. He made us be with us through Jesus Christ, and after he left, He was with us by the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16-20 “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever. / He is the Spirit of truth, and the world cannot