Into a Life of Prayer; A Journey, Part 3

To read part 1 of the prayer series, click here.
To read part 2 of the series, click here

Into a Life of Prayer; A Journey, Part 3

The Lord's Prayer, Our Model, Vol. 1

We can't very well take a journey into a life of prayer without looking at how Jesus taught us to pray. The Lord's Prayer was given to the disciples in response to their request for direction in prayer.  Jesus' response, a model of prayer, was never meant to be repeated verbatim as a prayer offering. We learn about the words of the prayer--the vein of the prayer--so we can apply them to our own prayer lives. 

^{Matthew 6: 5-9}

 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.“This, then, is how you should pray:


THE LORD'S PRAYER
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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus' words here are so rich in meaning, that one post can't do them justice. Today we'll explore just the first two words....Our Father.

In the New Testament the word Father is used 245 times.  It points to a relationship of intimacy and trust--in contrast to the Old Testament, in which we read a more intimidating, "I am the Lord your God".

Several Old Testament verses, though, do tell us that God is our Father (Deut. 32:6, Psalm 89:26, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah 3:4, Jeremiah 3:19).

In beginning with the word Father, Jesus is setting the tone for our relationship with God.  A Father takes care of us. He listens with patience.  He protects and comforts.  He provides for us. He looks at the best in us.  

Both the words Father and Our point to a familial relationship. When we become a Christian we are grafted into the Body of Christ (the Body of Believers).  We are brethren to one another, and God is our Father.  It's important to regard our membership in the Body seriously, for it carries a responsibility. We must always be looking and working toward the good of the Body, our brethren.

Philippians 2:4
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.


Mark 12:31
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

For example, when we sin, it not only harms us, but it harms the whole body as well.  We are not to be individual operators, but rather, operate as a cooperative body--spending time in fellowship with one another, praying for and with one another, helping one another in need, building each other up, admonishing in love when necessary.

James 2:15-17
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

In short, we are part of a family, and when we pray, we must have that family mindset....Our Father.

The theology of our open relationship with God--this very intimate, perfect, Fatherly one--is complicated, but should be understood so that Believers can answer the questions of any adult seeking to know more about the faith, and so that our relationship with the Father in prayer is rich in gratitude, in reverence, in intimacy, and in the joy befitting it.

Permit me now to go into some theological detail, even if you have to finish reading this tomorrow?

Because we are dead spiritually before we become Christians, because we are dirty and unrighteous, we are not fit for the presence of God.  We cannot gain admittance.

To be approved before God--to have the privilege of relationship with Him--our sins have to be atoned for through a blood offering.  In the Old Testament this was done with animal sacrifices.

A sacrificial goat was slain for the sins of all Israel once a year during Passover Week, on the Day of Atonement (Yum Kippur).  The sacrifice was done according to ceremonial law given to Moses (Lev. 16), described in ordinary English here, excerpted below:

The high priest, after becoming ritually pure, first offered a bull for his sins and the sins of his household. Then two goats were set aside. Lots were cast, and one goat was chosen to be the scapegoat or "Azazel." The high priest slaughtered the other goat to atone for the sins of Israel and brought the blood into the Holy of Holies. The scapegoat was sent away to be lost in the desert after the high priest laid both hands on its head and confessed the sins of Israel. In this way, the sins of the nation were symbolically carried off into the desert.

Any individual Israelite who sinned during the year had to take an animal to the priest to be sacrificed (Leviticus 5:1-10). The poor brought doves and the rich brought lambs or goats, so that the priest could perform a ceremony similar to that done on Yum Kippur (one animal for a burnt offering, one animal to be set free).  A really poor person could bring a grain offering, part of which was burnt, and part of which was given to the priest.  This grain offering from the very poor is the only example of atonement being made without blood.

In the New Testament animal sacrifices continued to be performed for atonement as described, until the blood of Jesus was shed.


Jesus is the blood offering--the sacrificial lamb--for every sin we've ever committed, or will commit.


When Jesus gave up His spirit on the cross and uttered, "It is finished", quakes shook the earth and the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was divinely torn (not by human hands).  This tearing signifies that, forevermore, nothing separates us from a relationship with God....from gaining admittance to Him whenever we desire.  Prior to Christ's shed blood, only the high priest was admitted into the Holy of Holies, a condition of the Old Covenant (the Ten Commandments and all the other parts of the Law).  The tearing of the curtain, and Christs' death on the cross, both mark the beginning of the New Covenant, wherein the Law is written on the tablet of our hearts, via the Holy Spirit.

The Lamb was slain, for the final time.

And now we call him Father....and only He fulfills the deepest needs in our souls.

Hallelujah!

Jews who didn't believe in Jesus as Messiah continued to sacrifice at the temple as usual, until the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.  Since that time, Jews have done nothing to atone for their sins.

You've probably heard that when the Jews start rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, that signifies the beginning of the Great Tribulation...and the Second Coming of Christ?  Let's hope construction starts soon....before gas prices reach $5/gallon!

In the Old Testament faith in God was credited as righteousness, as in the case of Abraham.

James 2:23
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.

It is the same in the New Testament; our faith in Christ is credited to us as righteousness.  When we come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and accept the grace offering of the cross, Christ's righteousness is imputed to us (applied to us).

Here is an excerpt from a John Piper sermon, on imputation:

"Imputation" is different from "impartation." God does "impart" to us gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that we have them and they are in us growing and they are ours. But all of that gracious impartation through the Spirit is built on an even more firm foundation, namely, imputation - the work of God outside of us: God's own righteousness, not imparted to us, but imputed to us. Credited to us, as Romans 4:6 and 11 say. Put to our account. Reckoned to be ours.

2 Corinthians 5:21, "He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Here we have a double imputation. God imputed our sins to Christ who knew no sin. And God imputed his righteousness to us who had no righteousness of our own. The key phrases for us are "the righteousness of God" and "in Him." It's not our righteousness that we get here. It is God's righteousness. And we get it not because our faith is righteous, but because we are "in Christ." Faith unites us to Christ. And in Christ we have an alien righteousness. It is God's righteousness in Christ. Or you can say it is Christ's righteousness. He takes our sin. We take his righteousness.

We become spiritually alive in Christ Jesus--approved children of God, admitted at His feet forevermore.

Hallelujah!


We pray to the Father, in the name of the Son. Thus, our prayers begin with Our Father, and end with, "In Jesus' name we pray, Amen".