Bible Passage: Matthew 6:9a

I. “You pray this way: Our Father who is in the heavens”

1. The greatest revelation in history is: God is One, who exists in three persons—God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
2. This Christian teaching is called “the doctrine of Trinity”
3. The doctrine of Trinity differentiates Christian faith from Judaism and Islam
4. The New Testament does not identify God with a specific name but is identified as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

a. At the time of Jesus’ Baptism and the Day of Pentecost, we see three persons in the Godhead: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (cf. Matt 3:16; Acts 2:32-33)
b. When Jesus used the term “Father” it referred to the first person of the Trinity
c. Jesus addressed God “Father” (cf. Matt 11:25; 26:39; John 3:35; 17:1)

II. Let’s come to Matt 6:9a “You pray this way: Our Father who is in the heavens”

1. Jesus directs His disciples to call God, i.e., the first person in the Trinity, “Father”

a. The Aramaic word for “Father” is “Abba”
b. This expression conveys:

i. A close intimate relationship
ii. A family bond
iii. Safety and security

c. Jesus-followers have a relationship with God the Father just as Jesus has the Father-Son relationship with Him
d. This is the most powerful relationship one can ever have!
e. By having One Father, people from all walks of life (caste and color) become part of the same family
f. Our Father, who is in the heavens, established this relationship with us through “adoption”

i. Eph 1:4-5 The Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. He did this by predestining us to adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will
ii. 1 John 3:1 See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are
iii. Romans 8:15-17 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)
iv. Gal 4:7 you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God
v. Eph 2:5-6 God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!—and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

2. Our Father, who is in the heavens, is the initiator of the relationship

a. Rom 3:25 God publicly displayed Jesus at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed
b. Rom 5:1 Since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
c. Eph 2:19 you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, in Jesus you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit

3. Our Father, who is in the heavens, is the One who maintains this relationship

a. Psalm 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers
b. Luke 15:20 he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him
c. Gal 3:26-27 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ
d. Exodus 34:6 The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness
e. Jer 31:34 I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done

4. Our Father, who is in the heavens, knows our needs

a. Matt 6:8 your Father knows what you need before you ask Him
b. Matt 6:30 If this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith?
c. Psalms 68:5 He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows

5. During His earthly ministry, the Son [Jesus] sought the Father constantly

a. Luke 5:16 After healing of the leper
b. Luke 6:12 Selection of disciples
c. Luke 9:29 Transfiguration
d. Luke 22:39-46 Gethsemane
e. Luke 23:34, 46 Cross

III. Principles

1. The Father in heaven is the only person who makes our life complete
2. The Father in heaven gives us a new identity which trumps all other identities
3. Human fathers cannot become the Heavenly Father. Therefore, one must not look at human fathers in the place of the Father in heavens
4. Though human fathers cannot measure up to the Heavenly Father, but the Father in heavens is their role-model—looking vertical and doing horizontal
5. When seeking the Father in heaven becomes weak, we tend to seek the world but nothing of this world can fill the place of the Father in heaven

Takeaway:

Seek your Father in heaven just as Jesus sought His Father