Series: Student Ministry: The Sermon on the Mount

From a very early age, Christian parents and Sunday School teachers teach their children that it is important to pray. Parents will oftentimes carve out time to pray with their child. But, it can be the case that even believers that we would think of as being pretty mature in their faith struggling to know how to pray.

This will begin a series of messages that are designed to help us have an understanding of how we should pray. How do we learn how to pray? Conveniently for us, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray and it is recorded for us in Scripture.

Read Matthew 6:9-13.

We are going to break this down and discuss this in small pieces. Prayer is important and so it is important for us to understand the many different things that Jesus states in this prayer. The first thing that we read is “Our Father”

Who Has The Right To Call God Father?

The first question that we have to ask is who is allowed to call God Father. At first glance, we might say that everyone can call God Father because God created all things and all people. But that is not what we find in Scripture.

The first time that God reveals Himself to be a father to a group of people is in Exodus 4:22-23. Here God is telling Moses what he is going to say to Pharaoh about letting His people go. Israel is described here as God’s son. This relationship between God and His people is further borne out in this passage when the people of Egypt are not considered God’s sons. The only people in this relationship with God are His people. And this is the way this relationship is seen throughout Scripture.

So, biblically speaking, who has the right to call God Father? Well, only His people have the right to call God Father. “Our Father” is not an empty phrase that we utter, it’s packed full of meaning. And the meaning is more than just being a created being with Him as our Creator. God doesn’t relate to everyone as His people.

Why Can We Call God Father?

So, we have established that God’s people can call Him Father. Why is it that His people can call Him Father?

Read John 1:10-13 and Ephesians 2.

Those people who have trusted in Christ as their Savior can call God Father because Jesus has accomplished their salvation through His life, death, and resurrection. These people are now adopted into God’s family and can call God Father.

The question to consider is this: Do you have the right to call God Father?

Consider This When You Pray

My daughter recently trusted in Christ and was baptized. We are discussing these things together and praying together. It was beautiful to hear her response. When she prayed she thanked God for saving her, for sending His Son to die on the cross for her, and working in her heart to help her to believe. It was absolutely beautiful, but isn’t that exactly what we are saying when we say “Our Father”.

 

R. Dwain Minor