“Turning Homeward” SUMC 1/8/12
Luke 15:11-32 Romans 8:5-17

Hank Hanegraaff is host of the radio broadcast, the Bible Answer Man, which is heard daily throughout the U.S. and Canada. He told of a father who was overheard giving his son a tongue lashing for being biblically illiterate, or in other words, not knowing his Bible. The father berated the boy with this statement, “You probably don’t even know the Lord’s Prayer.” “Oh yes I do,” the boy retorted triumphantly, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” (pause/) Surprised, the father stammered, “Sorry, son. I had no idea you actually knew it.”

We’re going to be spending the next several weeks looking at the Lord’s Prayer, phrase by phrase. We’re not doing this because I think you don’t know the prayer; rather, we all know it so well that it is easy to fail to appreciate its meaning. It’s my hope that over these next couple of weeks we’ll move beyond just mindlessly reciting the words of the prayer, to actually praying the words with new understanding and appreciation.

Today we’re going to look at the opening phrase, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” Because Jesus chose Father as the address to use for God, we should understand that the focus of the entire prayer is on that aspect of God; this prayer is to our Father. Consider when, later in the prayer, we bring up our needs. We only have hope that the requests to meet our needs will be answered because we’re asking God as our Father to answer them.

Realize that God, as the all-powerful, holy and righteous supreme Creator, would have no reason to pay us any attention at all, much less answer us. But, God as our Father , is different. Now, there are lots of names for God. Is Father just another one of them? Of all the names Jesus could have used for God, Jesus consistently addressed God as Father. In the longest recorded prayer of Jesus, found in John 17, Jesus addressed God as Father a half dozen times there alone. Overall, I counted up around 180 times that Jesus referred or spoke to God as Father in the gospels.
That says to me that there’s a different kind of relationship with God possible for us than if Jesus had just used the names or titles of Lord, King, God, etc. In the name Father we get an image of the loving nature and tender side of God, rather than just the stern and angry judge image. The word Father portrays a much warmer side of God than impersonal words such as Lord and King. Don’t get me wrong – God is a judge and we should rightfully call God Lord and King among other titles. But Father is such a radically different name from the others we could use.

As neat as it is to consider calling God Father, the very idea was offensive to many in Jesus’ day. In fact it was scandalous. Good Jews were taught that it was not permissible, let alone proper, to call God by name, much less such an intimate address such as Father. For another thing, one of the words Jesus used for Father, “abba”, was a common word from domestic life. It would be outrageous to use such an ordinary, such a profane name for the holy God. And yet, Jesus dared to use it to speak to God.

Calling God Father can still be offensive to some today, but for other reasons. Some people see the name as sexist or chauvinistic, as assigning the human masculine to the gender-less divine. Others object to the oppressive patriarchal and authoritarian images the word Father may project. Still others find it hard to consider God as Father because they have had poor or traumatic experiences with their human fathers. I’m sure that Jesus was aware of all such possible excess baggage the word Father might carry with it for some people. And yet, Jesus still chose to use it as his primary address to God. And so, we should, too.

But Jesus was not insensitive to how the name Father might be perceived by us sinful people. And so, Jesus gave us a picture of what God as Father looks like in a parable that is commonly called the parable of the prodigal son.

To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: "A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, `I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die.' So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
"A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money on wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

"When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, `At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man."’

"So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

"But his father said to the servants, `Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party began.

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on.

“`Your brother is back,' he was told, `and your father has killed the calf we were fattening and has prepared a great feast. We are celebrating because of his safe return.'

"The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, `All these years I've worked hard for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the finest calf we have.'

"His father said to him, `Look, dear son, you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!' "
Luke 15:11-32 New Living Translation

Jan Milic Lochman is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren. He has taught theology both in Eastern and Western Europe over the past forty years. He made these observations about the father in this story… “Against all prevailing laws and customs he does not stand in his son’s way but lets him go. And when the prodigal returns crushed, the father does not count up and expect repayment but runs to meet him. The father runs: an unheard-of action in the patriarchal code. But this unheard-of feature in the father’s attitude characterizes the New Testament concept. It cuts right across all pagan and pseudo-Christian ideas of God…This Father who meets us nonjudgmentally is not an extension of the patriarchal and authoritarian mentality and order, but a challenge to it.”

So, God as Father acts in unexpectedly loving ways. In the story we would have expected the father to stand over the son, making him crawl back on his hands and knees in contrition, begging for forgiveness. Instead, filled with joy, the father runs to meet him. “While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him. He was filled with tender love for his son. He ran to him. He threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20b New International Readers’ Version

We would have expected the father to accept the son’s offer to come back as a hireling. But the father welcomes him back as a son. “The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.' But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick! Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.’” Lk 15:21-22 MSG

We would have expected the father to punish the son for squandering and wasting one third of the wealth and assets he had worked hard for. But the father shows his forgiveness by throwing a party. “’And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’” And they began to celebrate. ” Lk 15:23-24 NRSV

Professor Lochman concluded, “The heavenly father does not bind us to him, but freely releases us; then awaits our free return.” What a great picture that is. To call God Father in the Lord’s Prayer, then, is a reminder of God’s love for us and reminds us how much like a prodigal child we are. Like the prodigal, we may be floundering in self-imposed exile, having separated ourselves from the Father, having chosen to go our own way or to live by the ways of the world. If so, then the good news for us today is that we can return to God our Father with a humble and penitent heart, in the hope, confidence and assurance that God will welcome us back home.

What’s more, also like the prodigal, when we call God Father we can experience the warm, joyful, love-filled embrace of God as we return to him or rest in him. In those cases the name Father should cause our hearts to be thankful, overflowing with our love for and gratitude to God for including us in God’s home.

You see, another aspect of calling God Father is the recognition that God has chosen to adopt us into his family. The Bible tells us that every human being is a creature fashioned by the Creator into the Creator’s likeness. It is written in Genesis 1:26a (NLT) “Then God said, "Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves.”
But, although every person is created in the image and likeness of God, only Jesus of Nazareth can claim to be a begotten child of God the Father. The rest of us, then, are not children of God by virtue of our birth. Instead, it is not until a person becomes a Christian that they can legitimately claim to be a son or daughter of God the Father. Rick Warren reminds us in his book, The Purpose-Driven Life, that God wants a family, and so God created us to be a part of God’s family. Ephesians 1:5 says: His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. Eph 1:5 NLT

Similarly, Lorraine Kisly, former editor of the distinguished journal Parabola wrote: “It is not by nature, but through adoption and grace, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, that we become sons and daughters…” In other words, we are adopted as God’s children through faith in Jesus, the only true son of God. It is after we invite Christ and the Holy Spirit into our lives that God adopts us God’s children. John 1:12 (CEV) tells us, “Yet some people accepted him and put their faith in him. So he gave them the right to be the children of God.”

Jesus invites us to become his brothers and sisters through such spiritual adoption. And though we have no inherent right to do so, Jesus also invites us, with him, to call God our father, too. Such an invitation, to be permitted to call God Father, is a great privilege and honor. We should not take it lightly or use that address flippantly. To call God Father, is to be reminded of an incredible gift.

Listen to how the Apostle Paul describes this adoption in Romans 8:5-17. NLT Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.) Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatso-ever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family--calling him "Father, dear Father." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures--for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

When we call God Father we should be reminded that this is a gift, and that God is the parent and we are the child. When we call God Father we also acknowledge that we have a bigger spiritual family. Calling God Father is to admit where our true home is. So, like the prodigal, every time we call God Father it is like coming to our senses and turning toward home again.

Before I leave our meditation on Father as our name for God, let me point out that Father is not so much a description of what God is, but an address to who God is. There is a saying that you sometimes see on plaques or mementoes that reads: Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy. That’s what I mean by saying that Father is not so much a description of what God is, but rather who God is.

I mentioned earlier that one of the words Jesus used for Father, abba, was offensive because it was a common and not a holy name. Abba is from the Aramaic language. It was used by grown-up sons and daughters as well as by children to address their father. An equivalent translation if used by children today might be Daddy. As far as we can tell, Jesus was the first and only person to use abba when speaking to God, until he invited us as God’s adopted children to use that name, too. So, again, this speaks of what a great privilege and honor it is for us to be able to call God, Father. It’s not just another name for God.

Let’s move on to “Who art in heaven.” I’m going to pause for a moment on the first two words of that phrase: who art. The words who art say that God exists. When we say who art we are testifying that we believe God to be real, that God is. Saying “who art” can also help us remember that God is present. In other words, the phrase “who art” reminds us that God is near to us, that God is with us, that God is beside us, even that God is within us. God promised through the prophet Isaiah (43:2 NLT): “When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” And it’s not just in bad times that God is with us; when we celebrate good times, it’s because God is there with us then, too.

We need to be reminded that God is with us, not only in the tough times, but in every time and place. You see, to have a healthy understanding of who God is in God’s fullness, and to keep our relationship with God in its proper place and perspective, we must always remember that though God is near, God is also far beyond us. We must never lose sight of the fact that although we can have a relationship with God as close and as intimate as that of a father to a child, still God is the absolute Lord and Creator of all that is. This was the lesson that God gave to Job in chapters 38-41 of that book of the Bible. Among other things, God reminded Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”
Job 38:4a NRSV
Which brings us to the last two words of this part of the phrase: in heaven. To say in heaven makes it clear that God is our spiritual father not human father. Although we can be intimate with God, we must remember that God is and always will be greater than ourselves. This phrase is a reminder that God is God and we are not, that God is on a different level than we are.

Many of us grew up learning the Lord’s Prayer from the King James Version. In that version we have a curious word: which - which art. Most modern translations today employ the word who instead of which. And for good reason. To me, the word which is too impersonal. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. “Which art in heaven” may be a helpful reminder that although God is my father, God is not just my buddy or one of my good friends. God is much more than a best bud, because God is not like us. God is much more than us. Who art or which art in heaven is an important and helpful qualifying description for us so that we don’t lose sight of the full nature of God.

Now, the last thing we’re going to look at this morning is actually the very first word of the prayer: Our. By beginning the prayer with the word our, Jesus wants to be sure that we realize that we don’t pray alone. To pray Our Father underscores the fact that we do not come before God in isolation, but rather as part of a greater community of faith. The Lord’s Prayer is a constant reminder that Christians exist together in community. We live with each other and we live for each other.

At the very beginning, God determined that people were better off in community with other people. As recorded in Genesis 2:18a (CEV), “The LORD God said, ‘It isn't good for the man to live alone.’” So God created a companion. The same holds true for Christians. It is not good for us to be alone. In fact it is impossible for a Christian to grow and thrive alone. And so, the Bible says, “So it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.” Romans 12:5 (NLT)

Every time we say, “Our Father”, we should be reminded that God has other children, too. In fact Jesus told his disciples,
“You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.”
John 10:16 (MSG)

Another way to look at this is that no Christian is an only child of God. We have lots of brothers and sisters in the faith and so we are expected to get along as family. So, when we say “our” in the Lord’s Prayer we should be challenged to be honest with ourselves about our attitudes and prejudices toward other people. To say “Our Father” may cause us to reflect upon such questions as Whom do I reject? which persons? which groups?

You see, Jesus was intentional in having us use Our Father. If it was just my Father, then we might think that we have exclusive rights to God. Rather, to say Our Father acknowledges that others can rightfully claim God as Father, too. To say Our Father is to acknowledge that God loves and cares for them as much as God does for me, even if I don’t like them.

So how do we handle this realization that God loves others as much as God loves me? We can choose to act like the older brother in the parable: we can choose to brood and dishonor our heavenly father by our negative attitudes towards our brothers and sisters. Or we can choose to live together in peace and harmony and so bring honor and glory to the name of God and our brother Jesus.

From now on, when we begin to pray The Lord’s Prayer, may we not just say the words, but may we consider what each word means. Specifically, each time we say the words, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” let us do so, like the prodigal child, with our hearts and minds turning homeward to God.