Speaker 1: 0:05

We have your Bibles. I encourage you, invite you to open them to Matthew, chapter 6. The late theologian JI Packer asked what is a Christian? His answer is simple and profound. The question can be answered many ways, he said, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as father. I think that's a beautiful way to put it. A Christian is one who has God as Father.

Speaker 1: 0:48

Dr Packard talks about how could you sum up the whole teaching of the New Testament, and he sums it up this way it's a revelation of the fatherhood's, the Holy Creator, our Creator, revealing Himself as the Father of His beloved children. And then he sums up the whole New Testament religion as the knowledge of God as one's Holy Father. In other words, by knowledge he means the personal and intimate knowledge of God as our Father. This is so vitally important. I'm amazed that for the first 1,500 years of the church there are a few exceptions, but this doctrine was ignored in many ways. You can't hardly find any writings on it, a little bit here and there. I just find that amazing because it just permeates the New Testament. Our own Westminster Confession of Faith, written in the 1640s, was the first confession that actually had a chapter on adoption. That's remarkable and it's such an important, important teaching.

Speaker 1: 2:10

Packer says if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's adopted child and having God as his father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the old, everything that's distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God. Father is the Christian name for God Very powerful, very important. What does this mean? If you live your life with God as your father, you're conscious of this and you know him as your father spiritually. It means that you live your life out of the sweet assurance that you're a beloved child of the heavenly father, and this comes through adoption, by the grace of Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the very Son of God, and so he's the second person of the Trinity, equal with God, the Father and the Holy Spirit in power and glory. So he's the Son of God by nature, by His very nature. But we become sons of God, and sons in the ancient world as applied to this concept in the New Testament, includes daughters. We become sons and daughters of God by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. Christ by nature, us by grace.

Speaker 1: 4:01

Listen to some of these wonderful passages 1 John 3, how great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. I love the NIV there. How great is the love that was lavished. What love that was lavished. What particular love that was lavished. What love that was lavished. What particular love that was lavished that we knowing ourselves that we should be called children of God. John is amazed at this.

Speaker 1: 4:41

The apostle Paul says in Galatians 3, in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God. How? Through faith. Or, as the NIV puts it simpler you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. So that's how we would become a child of God simply through faith, receiving what God has given to his people in his promises. John 1,. But to all who did receive him, to all who did receive Christ, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That's awesome. And so what does this mean? Well, are you and I worshiping and praying and living and giving, giving of our time, talent and treasures, among other things, out of this realization that god has adopted us and brought us into his heavenly family forever, if we have faith in christ? That's what has happened, and so do we live our life out of that consciousness, out of that awareness, because oftentimes we speak about how we get right with God and we should.

Speaker 1: 6:01

The Bible talks about that in terms of justification. The apostle Paul does oftentimes, jesus does too. That's a courthouse term, that's a legal term. Justification is something that's declared by God as judge. So, mentally, you take yourself to the courthouse and you see this judge in a black robe, and he's, when you have faith in Christ, he's declaring all your sins forgiven, past, present, future, and he's also declaring that you're faith in Christ. He's declaring all your sins forgiven, past, present, future, and he's also declaring that you're righteous in his sight, as if you had perfectly obeyed every jot and tittle of the law. Now, of course, that's possible through the death of Christ and through his perfect obedience on our behalf, and so that's credited to our account, our sins taken away, his righteousness given. But see, that happens in the courthouse. But there's something greater than just being right with God legally.

Speaker 1: 6:53

He then takes us from the courthouse and says come with me. It's as if the judge gets out from behind the bench, takes off his robe and says come home with me, you're my son, you're my daughter, and he sits us at the table of with me. You're my son, you're my daughter, and he sits us at the table of the king. He adopts us, he loves us. And what is amazing about adoption? That means he loves us with that same kind of love that he loves his own son, jesus Christ, with that same kind of love that he loves his own son, jesus Christ. It's a marvelous, marvelous thing, packer.

Speaker 1: 7:36

Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption, our grasp of adoption that we're in the family of God and he is our Father and we are loved beyond measure with that love that is infinite, eternal and unchangeable. Isn't God good? Is there any sweeter knowledge than that? That is the pinnacle of salvation, to know that we are God's adopted children. Perhaps the only thing better is when we see God face to face in glory. But you see, what does that mean. It means we realize who God is, he's our Father, and we realize we're His beloved children, secure in His love, forever, through faith in Christ. And then what we do is we spend our life living that out, living out what it means to be in the family of God, flushing that out in every area as a church member, as a worker in this community, in your family life and even in this vision campaign which we've been talking about. None of it, none of our life can be properly understood apart from this knowledge that, as God's people, we are his children and he is our father.

Speaker 1: 9:05

And so, with that brief introduction, I'd like to. I normally ask you to stand, but today I'm going to do a little different. I'm going to ask you to stay seated. Well, you can stand if you want, but everybody else will be seated, and I want us to meditate on this Lord's Prayer together. I'm partial to the old King James-like version, same with Psalm 23. You just can't beat the King James on that one.

Speaker 1: 9:31

But let's sincerely pray this to God together, as his family, this morning, would you join me? Our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be 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 debtors as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Fathers, we come to your word. We ask that you would, by your Spirit, help us to understand, help us to understand in our minds and in our hearts, and that it might bear fruit in our life and in our church. In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 10:29

Well, you'll notice we got a bulletin back to you and I know some of you are happy about that. None of the songs in there are right. Somehow we got that messed up. And as far as my sermon info on the back, you can ignore that too. That's not. I changed my mind after we printed so, and Trip Higginbotham's not a deacon either. He's an elder, but other than that. So we tried, but God loves us anyway.

Speaker 1: 11:02

But I just want to look at this. I tell you I was going to do a one-off on this sermon and then I just sort of said no, no, because March 2nd today opens the commitment window through May 11th. Not that we won't take commitments after May 11th, but for phase one. We're opening the window today. What I'd really like you to do before you leave today is just make a decision. Yes, lord, I'm in this campaign. I'm in. Some of you already know what your commitments are going to be, and that's fine. But many of you will be thinking about it, want to pray about it, and that's fine too. So I would just encourage you today just resolve whether you're in or not. If you know what you're giving. Fine If you don't take between now and May 11th, or even longer if you need to. But we're hoping by May 11th that we can reach our goal. We'll see what the Lord does, but God is good.

Speaker 1: 11:56

But I got to thinking about how this campaign and really everything relates to the Lord's Prayer, and so that's what we're going to spend some time on in the weeks ahead. I know I keep pushing 1 Corinthians back, but sometimes I just get inspired to preach a different way. So today, I just want us to focus on two things by way of introduction to the Lord's Prayer I want us to look at the context and I want us to look at the pattern. I want us to look at the context of the Lord's Prayer and I want us to look at the pattern of this prayer. And so when we stand back and look at the Lord's Prayer, what do we see? Well, you can see there that there's an introduction or a preface, and then there's six petitions and then there's a conclusion. That's how it's structured out.

Speaker 1: 12:48

Just like the two places you'll find the Ten Commandments Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, the two places where you'll find the Lord's Prayer is Matthew 6 and Luke 11. And I'm going to focus on Matthew 6 because in Matthew's gospel, in particular in chapter 6 and in the surrounding sermon material from Sermon on the Mount, you're going to notice that he uses father a lot. If you're one that likes to mark in your Bibles, like I do sometime when you read through the Sermon on the Mount circle, every time it says Father or it relates to brothers, or brothers and sisters in Christ, I think it might surprise you how much adoption in the fatherhood of God just permeates this sermon. But Jesus, in the verses leading up to teaching us the Lord's Prayer, he gives His disciples some warnings, and we would be wise to heed His warnings, because whenever Jesus warns us, he's doing it in love, he's doing it to protect us, he's doing it because he wants our best, just like we warn our children for the same reasons.

Speaker 1: 13:53

But the first thing I want you to see in this regard is that those who don't know God as their Father, they live their life, as verse 1 of Matthew 6 says, practicing their righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. They practice their righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. And so if we don't understand that God is our Father and so if we don't understand that God is our Father and that he deeply loves us in Christ very deeply loves us in Christ and that he never accepted us in the first place based upon our own righteousness or the good things we have done, but rather he accepted us out of His sheer grace, because that's what his character is he is gracious. He isn't just gracious, he is gracious as how he operates and based upon what Christ has done for us, if we don't understand these things and they haven't soaked into our heart and it doesn't flow through our brains and enlighten our veins and enlighten our mind, then we live our life with an undue eye on pleasing other people. We practice our righteousness before other people as to be seen by them, to be affirmed by them, to build a reputation, to build up our self-worth, to establish our own righteousness, to create our own identity apart from the one that God has given us in Christ, and it's an identity based on our accomplishments. In that regard, when we do that, when we're doing things out of an eye, primarily for other people's assessment, we're doing it based on our accomplishments, rather than resting in the sheer love of God and the free gift of adoption by the grace of Christ. It's a tiring way to live to have to create an identity that other people affirm, to always feeling the need that other people have to affirm you all along the way and to build a reputation that you're somehow better, that you're righteous in some way or another over another person or by comparison. It's not only a wrong way to live, it's a weary, weary way to live, and I trust that we don't want to live that way.

Speaker 1: 16:25

Ed Welch has a wonderful book when People Are Big and God Is Small. When people are big and God is small. You see, that's what Jesus is getting at here in verse one and some of the other verses. See, that's what Jesus is getting at here in verse 1 and some of the other verses around the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. If you just don't have this assurance in the depths of your soul that you are a beloved child of God, you will forever be bound to living for the judgments of other people, living for the affirmations of other people, and you don't want that. That's an enslavement. But there's freedom in living for the sole purpose of pleasing your heavenly Father, knowing you're loved even when you fail Him. God is good, isn't he? And you see, that's when rest can enter your soul. That's where we get spiritual rest, knowing that God immeasurably loves us. He loves you, dear Christian, as he loves His own Son, jesus Christ. Isn't that a marvel. And he has sat you at the heavenly banquet table as his son or daughter.

Speaker 1: 17:53

Jesus lists three ways self-righteous people In this case I think he was dealing with the Pharisees, of course, but he lists three ways in the verses surrounding the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, on how they seek a reputation to glorify themselves rather than their Father who's in heaven. Three ways he lists One, they do it in their giving. Two, in their praying. And three, in their fasting. Now, these happen to be religious ways. There are other ways that we try to do this and establish our righteousness before others.

Speaker 1: 18:30

Think about this Do we ever desire in our hearts not that we would tell somebody, but do we ever desire in our heart, boy, we would tell somebody. But do we ever desire in our heart, boy? I hope they notice that trendy logo on my shirt. I wonder if they really know where I bought these pants. Do they know what kind of purse this is? As you pull up to the stoplight, man, I hope they see that logo on the back of my car.

Speaker 1: 19:05

Or it could be earthly titles, or it could be making sure people know the prestigious firm that you work for, or making sure that they know the neighborhood you live in. There's nothing wrong with any of these nice things. There are many wealthy godly people in Scripture Abraham was wealthy, king David was wealthy, etc. Etc. Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy. But where's our heart in these things? Is there pride in our heart? Are we humbly grateful for all that God has given, not so we can establish our righteousness, but just so that he can be praised?

Speaker 1: 19:50

Now, why does all this matter, you might say. Well, what am I saying this? Well, I'm going to give you two reasons. One the Bible says in James that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And I think the last thing any of us from Westtown Church want to see is that, among other things, we raise the money that we hope for for this campaign, but we do so with spiritual pride, looking in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives and perhaps in the life of the church.

Speaker 1: 20:28

And what am I saying? What I'm saying is it would actually be possible for us to hit our campaign target and have God oppose us in our pride, and that's a danger. I'm not saying we're going to do that, but Jesus has given us a warning. We don't want to do that. We want to give to God just out of gratitude. We're not trying to prove anything. We love God and we just want to show him. And whatever we give, however, he moves us. That's what it's about. God sees in secret, he says.

Speaker 1: 21:07

Jesus says multiple times in this sermon God, your father, he sees in secret what you, his beloved child, do, and he will reward you. He will reward you. He will reward you. We definitely want our heavenly father for us and not against us, amen. So yes, that's sort of a no-brainer, but that only comes through humility.

Speaker 1: 21:34

And two, when we do things out of self-righteousness and pride, what we do is all we're left with is our earthly reward. Jesus said oh, they've had their reward. They could have had a reward from the Heavenly Father, but they lose the reward from their Father. They get that brief passing, you know, cheer from other people. Now that doesn't mean we're not to encourage one another. That's not what Jesus is teaching. Yes, we all need encouragement. He's talking about the motives of the heart, why we're doing what we're doing.

Speaker 1: 22:11

And so, over and over in the Sermon on the Mount, which is Matthew's chapters five, six and seven, those three chapters it's to let our giving and our praying and our fasting and, by extension, any good works that we do in our life, we do it with an eye first and foremost and primarily toward our Heavenly Father, who is in heaven Again, who sees in secret and will reward you. If you have your Bible, you can see it in Matthew 6, verses 1, 4, 6, 16, 18. He just keeps repeating it your Father will see you and you see, when we do it with an eye toward Him and not rely on what other people think or say. What we're saying is is, and not rely on what other people think or say what we're saying is Lord, I believe that your reward is better than this small and passing earthly reward that I get in praise from other people, and so we have to remember that, jesus, we had to balance this out. Does that mean I can never do anything good in front of other people?

Speaker 1: 23:17

That's not what Jesus is saying at all, because in Matthew 5.16, he says let your light shine before others. Well, in secret or before others, which one is it? And, of course, the answer is yes. He's not talking about primarily whether we do it in secret or before others. He's talking about what's our motive. So he says "let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works". And what "not give glory to ourselves"? He says "so that they could give glory to your Father, who is in heaven".

Speaker 1: 23:50

You see how our adoption drives everything that we do. It's the primary purpose for everything we do that we're a child of God and he's our father, and my entire life, in every area of my life, is aimed at pleasing my heavenly father. So we want to do it with the sincerity in our hearts. I think it's amazing sincerity in our hearts. I think it's amazing that God, our Father, is a Father who's so gracious. He rewards us for just doing our duty, right? You, parents, you go see, you know, you tell your children you're responsible, it's your duty to keep your room clean. And then you go down there I heard a couple groans out there. I don't know what that, but you go there and you see that they cleaned their room up. It's only their duty. But then you say, what do you offer? What might you do? Hey, let's order some pizza, let's go for ice cream. It's not because you have to do that, it's because you love your children and you want to encourage them by rewarding them even in those things that are only their duty. This is the generous heart of God. This is how good God is. He loves to reward us just for doing that which is already merely our duty. And so God is good indeed. So that's the context of the prayer.

Speaker 1: 25:24

Let me move on to the pattern of the prayer. We could fly over Tampa and you can look out the window and you can see from above the streets and the buildings and the neighborhoods and so forth, and that gives you one look. Or you can walk along the sidewalk and you can look at particular buildings and you see the people in the particular lampposts and you can look at it from that angle. So you can look at it where you can see the whole forest, or you can walk amongst it and investigate the particular trees two different vantage points. And I say that because in the rest of the time we have this morning I want to fly over the Lord's Prayer from above and look down.

Speaker 1: 26:03

I want us to see its pattern from above because I think there's something very, very important here for us to notice. It's the same pattern you see in the Ten Commandments, where the priority is the first four commandments are focused directly on honoring God, the last six honoring other people, and you see that same pattern here. Notice, the first priority is hallowing God's name. So to hallow His name is just to honor and revere Him and praise Him and treat His name as something holy and not common, not something to be drugged through the mud, and it's loving his name and worshiping his name and by his name. His name is not just his label, His name is who he is and out of who he is and his greatness and goodness, all that he does, greatness and goodness, all that he does. That's the name of God. And then, second notice we're to pray for God's kingdom to come.

Speaker 1: 27:05

Jesus says here, and by kingdom here, what do we mean? We mean specifically how God begins to then rule and reign in the hearts and minds and lives of people through the Holy Spirit, through every tribe, tongue and nation. It's talking about where he establishes his rule and reign. One day, all the earth is going to have nothing but people whose hearts are ruled and reigned perfectly by God, where there'll be no sin. And then, third, we pray that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Speaker 1: 27:35

And, of course, where do we see our Father's will expressed? We see it revealed in the word of God, and so we need to learn to read our Bibles as coming from our Father who loves us. We need to learn to read the 10 commandments as coming from our Father, who loves us and knows what the best life is, and so on and so forth. But we see His will revealed in the Scriptures, and so we know our Father's love and holiness. And what does that mean? It means we live by faith, trusting in His promises. It means we realize how wise he is and therefore we heed His warnings. We understand how holy our Father is and therefore we obey His commandments. And we also rejoice and delight in Christ, our elder brother and Savior, who is revealed there on every page. Notice this phrase on earth as it is in heaven. On earth as it is in heaven.

Speaker 1: 28:46

That's not just for the third petition, it's for these first three. We would pray that our Father's name would be hollered on earth as it is in heaven. That God, our Father's kingdom, would come on earth as it is in heaven. That God, our Father's kingdom, would come on earth as it is in heaven. That our God, our Father's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then, with these three things focusing on God, then Jesus then turns to our needs daily bread, forgiveness of our sins, being delivered from evil and the evil one. And then he circles back to God, our Father's eternal kingdom, power and glory.

Speaker 1: 29:24

I want you to notice the pattern from above how radically God-centered the Lord's prayer is. It's a radically God-centered prayer. And once we realize that we're a child of God by faith in Christ, we see that God, our Father's glory, is what's given priority in this prayer and therefore should be given priority in our worship and in our living and in our giving. How can I put it more simply Jesus is teaching us in this prayer? Our life is not about us. I mean, it is, of course, in one sense, but it's ultimately not about us. It's about personally and intimately knowing God is our Father, knowing His love, relishing His love, basking in that love and then living out our life. Securing His love, trying to please Him in every way. That's what our life is about. People every day walk the streets not only of Tampa, but around the world, wherever they live. They walk around they don't even know why they're on this earth. That's a pitiful thing, isn't it? They don't know the purpose of why they're alive, and we have the great privilege of understanding that purpose and having the rest of soul and God's love in our hearts.

Speaker 1: 30:54

John Calvin says the human heart is a perpetual idol factory. Now, why is that important? Because we have this, as sinners, this amazing ability to put ourself on the throne of our hearts and kick God off. Rather than allowing Him to rule and reign in our hearts, we boot him off Every time we sin. That's what we do. We're like step aside a minute, I got this. That's really what we're doing. We're telling the king your rule is not going to reign here right now. I'm going to take over and then we come back. Thank God, right. We repent, we ask for forgiveness and thank God, he's gracious, aren't you glad he's very gracious. But that's what we're doing.

Speaker 1: 31:43

And I think idols yeah, there are some bad things that we turn into idols, evil things that we can make idols, but most often our idols in life are good things. They're good gifts from our heavenly Father that we love too much and so our loves become disordered. They're things to be loved, but we can love something too much to the point where we bow down and worship and serve this good thing in life rather than focusing on pleasing our Father. Okay, let's take the top three Power, sex and money. There they are. If you took those three out of Hollywood, they wouldn't be able to make a movie. These are actually good gifts from God. Each one rightly understood we need power to do certain things. Sexuality is a good thing, money is a good thing. They're all good gifts from God. But if we love them too much, if we make them idols.

Speaker 1: 32:48

What does the Bible teach about idolatry? It always leads to misery. Always, worshiping God is what fills us with joy. Worshiping idols Do you ever notice after you sin? You just have that certain. You can just sense how it's just it brings the clouds in, doesn't it? It brings the clouds in, doesn't it? God has designed us that way. When we please our Father, then we get joy. You know, it is a sad thing that so many children around the world do not have the love of a father or mother or loving family, and that is a horrible thing. It does great damage. Thing does great damage. It is tragic.

Speaker 1: 33:40

But I also want us to realize that we can make an idol of our children, who we love much and we should love them much. But it is actually possible to love our children in such a way that we aim to please them in all things rather than our heavenly Father. You ever seen parents that bow to a tantrum with their children? We don't want to do that. We need to just firmly and gently press the will of our Father into our situation. Sometimes we can focus on our children making it too much. Sometimes we can focus on our children making it too much. Nothing wrong with success, it's a blessing. Amen. We should praise god for those things. But it's possible to focus so much on that that we don't give an adequate focus and priority to god's kingdom and god's will and god's name in all of it, and so god can kind of get moved to the periphery of our life and other things begin to take over.

Speaker 1: 34:36

Do you remember the greyhound racing? I know they don't do that anymore, at least I don't think they do. But I was always amazed how these greyhounds could cruise around that track in blazing speed, chasing that fake rabbit. I always thought, man, if that bar stopped they'd break their neck because they're going so fast. But if they ever caught one, they'd realize, oh, we've been duped.

Speaker 1: 35:02

Tom Brady many say he was the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. He had just won his third Super Bowl, and I think it was 2005. I believe he went on to win four more. I believe it was. Most quarterbacks don't even win one in their career, maybe one. He wins seven, I think, but after winning his third Super Bowl.

Speaker 1: 35:27

Here's what he said. I want you to listen. There's times where I'm not the person I want to be. Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's times where I'm not the person I want to be. Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me?

Speaker 1: 35:40

I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey, man, this is what is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life, me. I think, well, it's got to be more than this. I mean this can't be what it's all cracked up to be. I mean, I've done it. I'm 27. And what else is there for me?

Speaker 1: 36:06

Steve Croft, the interviewer, said to Tom so what's the answer? Tom Brady said I wish I knew. I wish I knew. Now I don't claim to know what's in Tom Brady's heart I have no idea but can you sense the emptiness in his comments? He had chased the rabbit, actually caught it and realized that thing can't fulfill me in life. And as long as you're chasing it, you can live under this illusion that once you get it, then things will be. No, it won't. No, it won't. The world is full of greyhounds chasing fake rabbits.

Speaker 1: 36:53

Jim Carrey, well-known comedian, said this I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer. I think that's amazing. So if Steve Kroft asked Jesus what's the answer? Jesus is telling us the answer right here in the Lord's Prayer. We have to know God is our Father. We have to know we're loved as a beloved child, that God is our Father, that He'll love us in this life and on through eternity, and that the joy and the satisfaction, even in this life, come from living our life pleasing Him and giving His priorities, his name, his kingdom, his will, his honor, giving that the priority in all things. Let's pray, let's ask God that he would help us.