"The Address" Sermon: Romans 8:14-16

"The Address"
[Romans 8:14-16]
February 24, 2008 Second Reformed Church

Over the past two weeks, we have taken a very broad look at what prayer does. And we saw that the Scripture teaches that God designed prayer to change us. We also saw, and it is important to keep in mind, that our prayer does not change God. Today, we begin a look at the pattern of prayer the Lord gave us and what those different elements of the prayer mean.

"Our Father, Who is in Heaven." That is how the pattern of prayer begins. This is known as the address. We pray to Someone Who is somewhere. We do not vaguely pray to the gods or to Mother Nature. No, we pray quite specifically to the One God of Christianity, and we are told to address the Person of the Father.

Why do we, why can we, call God, "Father"? It is not, as the Mormons insist, because we are the biological descendants of God. No, Christianity teaches, as we saw several weeks ago, that God is a Self-Existent Being, Who is a Spirit.

In the passage before this morning's reading, Paul explained that Christians are dead to sin. Sin and the devil no longer have any claim over us. We are not enslaved to sin any longer. We do not have to sin, and as we mature in Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit in us, we are to be sinning less, to be becoming holy as Jesus is Holy, perfect as He is Perfect, until we are received into His Glory.

Then Paul explains, as we read, that our very standing in the universe has changed: we who were once slaves to sin, through Christ's Work and the reception of the Spirit, have been adopted as sons -- children -- of God. We were born children of the devil, slaves to sin, but, as we are told in verse fourteen, we are now led by the Holy Spirit, which proves we are the sons -- children -- of God. That means, consequently, that we ought not to say that God is the Father of all humans. God is the Creator of all humans, but He is only the Father of those who are led by the Holy Spirit, those who have been saved through Christ's Work.

Paul explains our sonship again in his letter to the Galatians, "But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God" (Galatians 4:4-7).

So, all of us who have believed in Jesus Alone for our salvation, have been released from our slavery to sin, we have been brought into the process of sanctification -- of becoming holy, through the Holy Spirit, and God has adopted us as sons -- adopted brothers of Jesus -- co-heirs with Him in the kingdom. And, if Jesus is our Brother, and God is Jesus' Father, and we are the adopted sons of God, then, by relationship, God is our Father.

Now, there are some today that argue that we ought not to call God "Father," even though it is the biblical, relational title. Some say this because it is unfair for women if God is address in the masculine. The insist we ought to call God our Father-Mother, or our Parent. This is to assume that God was unaware that He created women; it is also to assume that we have the right to change the Word of God. We do not.

Others say we ought not to call God "Father," because some human fathers are abusive. They argue that if one has an abusive father, it will never be possible to relate to God as Father. If that is true, then any time anyone wrongs another, it then becomes impossible for that person to ever deal with another person of the same type. I have had teachers that were, if not actually, at least seemingly, sadistic. Does that mean I can never relate to another who holds the title "teacher"? Of course not.

Jesus makes it clear that, not matter what our relationship to our human fathers has been, understanding that we are the children of God the Father increases our faith, our love, our trust, our confidence, our respect, our awe with regards to Him, and it increases the earnestness of our prayers to Him.

Hear the words of Jesus, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?" (Matthew 7:7-11).

Jesus said that compared to the love and provision that comes from God our Father, the best our earthly fathers do for us can be considered evil. Jesus did not mean that all earthly fathers are evil towards their children. But consider if you had an abusive father -- can you imagine what a good father would be like? Of course you can. Jesus said that God, our Father, is like the best our human fathers' can be, raised to the nth degree -- raised to perfection. If we can understand the concept of "Father" at all, we can understand God as our Father and see and wonder at God being our Father -- so much more loving, so much more generous, so much more kind -- there is none greater at being a father to us than God.

And we probably all remember going into a room where our earthly father was, wanting attention, wanting to know what he was doing, wanting to ask to go out, to borrow the car, whatever we may have gone into the room for. And we may have gone in hesitantly. We may have gone in quietly, afraid to disturb him. We may have gone in unsure of how he would react to our presence. Not so with God, our Father:

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we now have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:19-25).

Since Christ has saved us from sin and God's Wrath and merited righteousness for us, and we are led by the Holy Spirit and are being made holy by Him, and we have been adopted as the children of God, we are called to come before God, our Father, with boldness, with confidence, with assurance, because the Father is always ready to see us, always waiting to hear from us. He says to us, "Come," and He calls us to stir up each other, that we would all come before Him, that we would pray to Him, that we would understand Him to be our Father, the Great and Only God Who loves us and has made us His Own. So we are to love each other and encourage each other in good works, especially in the good work of assembling together for worship, before the Father. If we are Christians this morning, coming into the presence of our God and Father for worship ought to be the most wonderful, awe-inspiring, love-filled time we ever have. We come because God created us, God chose us, God saved us, God forgave us, God justified us, God made us right with Him, God gave us the Holy Spirit, God is making us like Jesus in holiness -- we don't need to fear Him, as the hymn writer tell us "Nothing in my hands I bring, only to Thy cross I cling" -- we bring nothing, He has done everything, He has made us His children, and we will enter into the joy of Jesus' Salvation.

And why do we say "our Father"? Why not "my Father"?

Because, we -- all together -- everyone who every believes in Jesus Alone for salvation -- is the Church. We are the Church. We are the Body. We are the Family. We all function together in Christ. So God is -- collectively -- "our Father." God is my Father, but more importantly, more fully, God is our Father, and so we address Him as the God Who is the Father of all His people.

And we add "in heaven" to remind us that God is more that a human father, God is the Almighty, the Creator and Sustainer of all, the Great and Only God, Who Alone grants Salvation to His people -- this, this is the God Who bids us to come and call Him "our Father."

So, we pray, "Our Father, Who is in Heaven" to remind us, at the outset of our prayer, Who it is we are praying to, what our relationship is to Him, and how we have come to be in such a relationship.

Hugh Binning explains it this way, "Now, the great gift, and large allowance of our Father, is expressed in the next words, but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, &c. Which Spirit of Adoption is a Spirit of Intercession, to make us cry to God as our Father. These are two gifts, Adoption and the privilege of Sons, and the Spirit of Adoption revealing the love and mercy of God to the heart, and framing it to a soul-like disposition: compare the two states together, and it's a marvelous change: a Rebel condemned, and then pardoned, and then adopted to be a Son of God: a sinner under bondage, a bound slave to sin and Satan, not only freed from the intolerable bondage, but advanced to liberty, to be made a Son of God, this will be the continued wonder of eternity, and whereabout the songs of Angels and Saints will be: accursed rebels, expecting nothing but present death, sinners arraigned and sentenced before his Tribunal, and already tasting Hell in their Consciences, and in fear of eternal perishing, not only to be delivered from all that, but to be dignified with this privilege to be Sons of God: to be taken from the Gibbit, to be Crowned, that is the great mystery of wisdom and grace revealed in the Gospel, the proclaiming whereof will be the joynt labour of all the innumerable companies above for all eternity. Now, if you ask how this estate is attainable, Himself tells us, John 1.12. As many as believed or received him, to them gave the privilege to be the Sons of God. The way is made plain and easy, Christ the Son of God, the natural and eternal Son of God, became the son of man; to facilitate this, ...” (Hugh Binning, The Sinner's Sanctuary, 256-257).

"“Our Father, Who is in Heaven."

Noticed one more thing: in this morning's Scripture, we are told that through the Spirit we cry out to God, "Abba, Father." "Abba a patre." One could literally translate it, "Father, Father." The first "Father" is in Aramaic and the second is in Greek. And we ought not gloss over that fact. What Paul is doing in using "Abba a patre" is to impress upon us the tender affection that the Father has for us.

We ought to understand, as we pray, as we address God, that we are not merely addressing anyone or anything, like "Bob" or "cinder-block," we are addressing the God Who has such love for us that He sent His Son to live and die and rise for us, He sent the Spirit to indwell us to perfect us, and He now calls us His children and tells us to call Him, "Our Father." This is the tender love of the Father for us. This is how Jesus said to begin our prayers -- how we should normally address God. Be amazed, brothers and sisters, as John was, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God;" (I John 3:1a).

Let us pray:
Our Father, we come before You in many ways, but You have given us this most revealing and loving way to address You. We thank You for the Great Work You have done in Trinity to make us Your children. We thank You that we can now come before You confidently, in awe, and in love, in prayer, knowing that You will hear, and answer us with every good thing and all that we need to be Your people this day. Be glorified in us, Almighty and Loving Father, in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.