God Didn’t Just Save You from Hell: The Lord’s Prayer –Our Father…

This week is the second week of our series looking at the Lord's Prayer.  Last week we had a short introduction to the Prayer and why we should and need to study and pray this Prayer.  We said that we will be using the Lord's Prayer as a filter and a lens through which to pray and to see the world.  I've put together a prayer guide that will lead us in praying the Lord's Prayer in a different way each day.  It's available here. 

The first phrase in the Lord's Prayer is, "Our Father, who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name."  A lot is caught up in this little phrase.  One of the things that I think has to be considered before even beginning to pray the Lord's Prayers, is that God is God and we are not. To find oneself truly believing and praying this Prayer one must first come to grips with the fact that he or she is not able to be their own savior.  In all ways we must realize that we are small, finite, weak and rather ignorant about ourselves and the world around us.

We are not God.  We are not big and strong, we do not hold the power of the wind and sea in our hands.  We did not set the foundations of the world in place.  Too often, though, we forget this. To pray and confess that God is in heaven and his name is worthy to be given praise and honor is to realize and confess that God is God and is therefore greater, bigger, smarter and wiser than we are.  God is God and we are not.  Much of what we will learn and pray as the weeks move on we will not be able to pray if in fact we do not confess that God is God and we are not.    

There is, however, something greater at work in this first phrase of the Lord's Prayer.  It is the confession that God is our Father.  Not only is God so much greater and more powerful than ourselves but God has also called us into a special, and according to many world religions, an unthinkable relationship.  Many have supposed that the calling of God Father was something new that Jesus did.  But this isn't the case.  The story of God's Fatherly relationship with humanity begins with Israel before the Exodus.  

God has just called Moses to go back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let Israel go.  God calls Israel his "son" (Exodus 4:22-23).  But the relationship between Israel and God as Father and child doesn't end with a simple verbal declaration.  The Father-child relationship is forged in the mighty saving work of God freeing Israel from slavery in Egypt.  In this definitive work of salvation Israel becomes God's sons and daughters.  But they aren't just saved from slavery, they are saved to something.  They are saved so that they might be a blessing and a light to the entire world (Gen. 12).  

Jesus, throughout his life and ministry, refers to God as Father.  In doing so Jesus connects what he says and does with what God did in the Exodus.  Jesus is proclaiming that in him a new Exodus is coming.  So, when we call God "Our Father" we do so looking back, remembering God’s past salvation, and looking forward in hope that full and final salvation is right around the corner.  

But, as with Israel's salvation in the Exodus, we aren't just saved from something, but we are saved to something.  Israel was saved from slavery in Egypt.  Through Jesus life, death, and resurrection we are saved from death and slavery to sin and death.  As Israel was saved from slavery to be a blessing to the whole world, we are saved to be sons and daughters who want to grow up to be like their heavenly Father. 

 

It is a great thing indeed, to celebrate what it is we have been saved from; the drugs, abuse, hatred, selfishness and so on, but when we make Christianity about just being saved from something we miss out on what it is we are to be doing.  To pray "Our Father" is to realize that we are saved to something, that we have a mission and a job to do here on earth and that job is to participate in the salvation Our Father is bringing about.

N.T. Wright puts it like this; we are to be apprentice sons and daughters.  As we call God "Our Father" we are to be learning and growing in our likeness of him.  We have been saved from growing up into orphaned children who have no guidance and teaching other than our own.  We have been saved to become children who, more and more, act and look like their Father in heaven.  As we move forward praying this prayer, it will become apparent that we need lots of help, lots of instructions from our Father in Heaven if we are ever going to really do God's will here on Earth, if we are ever going to trust God for our daily bread, if we are ever going to forgive and be forgiven, if we are ever going to live with the love, glory and power of Our Father in heaven.  

So, as we pray this Prayer, as we concentrate on this first phrase, let us remember a few things.  First, we are not God.  If God is our Father then we are not responsible for our own creation and we are not capable of bringing about our own salvation.  We must confess these things.  Second, calling God our Father conjures up for us images of salvation.  As God brought about Exodus for Israel, so does God through Jesus Christ bring about a new Exodus for us.  Finally, we are not just saved from something, but to something.  Jesus Christ has brought about a new Exodus for us, freeing us from slavery to sin and death.  And we are freed so that we might participate in helping God through Jesus Christ to bring about salvation and restoration to a world badly broken.

In other words, we are saved from slavery to sin and death so that we might participate in bringing about God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.  Next week we will explore a little further what that means.  To pray “Our Father” with all that means, necessitates that we also pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”