The following post is from a Wednesday evening small group study on the Lord’s Model Prayer. This was taught on March 13, 2024. This is a transcript produced from my lesson notes, so it will read differently than a typical blog post.
Matthew 6:9-13:
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
This evening I want to begin by looking at the relationship of prayer. When we pray, as believers in the Lord Jesus, we are to pray to our FATHER in heaven. It is not only an invitation to pray but it is a command to pray to our Father in heaven.
It is an incredibly amazing reality that all who receive the Lord Jesus, all who believe in his name, are given the right to become children of God (John 1:12). This is true, because when we come to the Lord Jesus through faith we are actually united to him. In him, who is the eternal and unique Son of God, we are accepted and adopted as God’s own sons (Ephesians 1:5-6).
God is now our Father in Christ. We are sons of God. “Sons of God” is a reference to our position and status. Although it is a gender specific title, this is applied to all God’s people regardless of gender. Just like all who are in Christ are part of the Bride of Christ, regardless of gender. Sons of God refers to being heirs of God. Christ is our older brother, and united to him, we are God’s children through faith in Jesus’ name.
Ephesians 2:18 says that both believing Jews and Gentiles have access through the Lord Jesus by one Spirit to the Father. We have access. The word “access” according to the Bible Sense Lexicon is “opportunity of admittance n. — an opportunity to have access to the presence of a superior; especially for speaking with the superior.” The idea is like having audience with a king. God is the King of the Universe, but we have access to the King of the Universe because he is our Father.
Do you remember seeing the iconic picture of JFK Jr. peaking out from beneath the President’s Desk? No one else had that kind of access to President Kennedy’s personal space. But since JFK Jr. was the President’s son, he had access, access like only a son can have.
In the same way, God is SOVEREIGN LORD OF THE UNIVERSE, yet we have access to him as his children.
This is so tenderly put in passages where God is said to be our Abba [1]…
Romans 8:15
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
God has given us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of adoption, and it is by the Spirit of adoption that we cry out to God as our Abba Father.
Galatians 4:6
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit is also called the Spirit of God’s Son. Having received the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, he actually causes us to cry out to God as our Father and even call him Abba.
“Abba” is the Aramaic word for “daddy” or “papa” or “dada.” You can hear that this would be what a small child would call their father – Abba; Dada. It is so intimate and simple that the smallest child can say it. The Lord Jesus used this word for God the Father in Mark 14:36:
Mark 14:36
And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
This was when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. United to the Lord Jesus we have been brought into this relationship with God where we may call God our Abba. This is actually what the Holy Spirit causes us to cry from the heart.
There are some who resist such intimacy with God claiming that this would cause us to be disrespectful or to be too familiar with God. However, I would argue that no one had more reverence for the Father than the Lord Jesus. Yet, he called God the Father his Abba. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus comes into our hearts crying Abba Father.
There is nothing more honoring to God than recognizing him as and loving him as our Abba Father.
God is the Father by nature. Before God the Father was the Creator, he was the Father of the eternal Son of God. He is eternally the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he will forever be the Father of all those united to the Son through faith.
When God sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts the Spirit cries out Abba Father! This is what the Spirit in the new birth causes God’s people to do.
So, the Lord Jesus teaches us to pray to our Father in heaven.
This was revolutionary in Jesus’ day. The Jews did not call God their Father on a personal level. This intimate relationship with God as our Abba is something that was surprisingly offered by the Lord Jesus to all who believed in him.
God is our Father. So, we may come to our Abba in prayer. We can come with genuine hearts. We don’t have to put on a show like the hypocrites or pile up words to get his attention (Matthew 6:5-8). We are already precious in his sight. We are so precious that he sent his Son to die in our place to redeem us and adopt us into his family.
We desire his name to be honored as our Father.
Knowing his loving character we desire his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth and in our lives as it is in heaven.
We ask him for the provision of our needs knowing that he is not only able but he is willing to answer our prayers as our Abba.
We come to him in humility for forgiveness knowing he has loved us so much he has given his Son to save us from our sins.
We come desiring his leadership knowing that he loves us and has our best interests in mind.
This relationship with our Abba does not create disrespect or familiarity but causes us to admire him as the One to whom belongs the kingdom, the power, and the glory.
This relationship, when understood correctly, takes prayer from being an exercise of duty and turns it into a delight. Amen.
1. I want to give credit where it is due. Dr. Michael Reeves, President of Union School of Theology, was incredibly helpful to me in the study of Abba. I especially recommend his sermon: “Benefits of Union with Christ” which you can listen to here.
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