Our Identity in Relationships in the family of God
Matthew 6:9-13 (NKJV)
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
The Lord’s prayer begins with three gigantic ideas. First, Our, this encompasses the global population of those who believe over thousands of years. Then, Father, that we have a familial affiliation to the Creator of the cosmos. And, Heaven, our true eternal home where the curse of Adam never has nor ever will stain the perfect blessedness of all its citizens.
People obsess over where they came from. Family trees and genetic testing are popular because where we come from informs our sense of identity. In Christ, our family has many branches but one root. Our identity is as part of the Tree of Life whose leaves, us, are given for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:2, “In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
As the Church we are the people of promise. The promise given in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” The promised seed is Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), who chose the apostles as the beginning of a new family, the family of God. This family was empowered to grow and do the works of God on Pentecost.
Acts 2:1-4, When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Since then the family of God has grown and spread around the world. There are Christians in every country around the world. The Bible has been translated onto over 700 languages and the New Testament into over 1500 languages. Our family includes Iraneus who in the second century A.D. said, “the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth.” This familial unity is the work of the Spirit. As St. Paul told us in Romans 8:14-16, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
Consider who taught us to say ‘Our Father’. Jesus, who is The Word of life become flesh, while he lived among us, he taught that God is his Father and he invited us to be included in that ‘Our’.
John 3:1-2, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Every family must have a head. 1 Corinthians 11:3, “I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” Our Father is that omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent origin of all that is seen and unseen and yet we are called to intimate relationship with him like a father with his children. Isaiah 63:16, “You, O Lord, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
The job of being a father encompasses many things. Fathers are providers, protectors, trainers, teachers, advocates, disciplinarians, comforters, role models and more. As human fathers we do the best we can within our limitations but our Heavenly Father has no limits on his ability.
His provision is perfect. Matthew 6:31-33,“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Besides which our real need is not for physical things but for redemption of our souls. Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Our father loves us at all times, through all the ugly. He loves us like the father of the prodigal son.
Luke 15:20-24, ““And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
This is our Father.
Every family must have a home. The family of God has a home, we call it heaven. It is our home though we are not there yet. What is home like?
Revelation 21:1-4, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
As awesome as that sounds Paul tells us that it is even better, literally inexpressible.
2 Corinthians 12:2-4, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
It is hard to remember that this world is not our home. Consider this story about Missionary Henry Morrison.
After forty years of faithful service to the Lord as a missionary to Africa, Henry Morrison and his wife were returning to New York. As the ship neared the dock, Henry said to his wife, “Look at that crowd. They haven’t forgotten about us”. However, unknown to Henry, the ship also carried President Teddy Roosevelt, returning from a big game hunting trip in Africa. Roosevelt stepped from the boat, with great fanfare, as people were cheering, flags were waving, bands were playing, and reporters waiting for his comment, Henry and his wife slowly walked away unnoticed. They hailed a cab, which took them to the one bedroom apartment which had been provided by the mission board.
Over the next few weeks, Henry tried, but failed to put the incident behind him. He was sinking deeper into depression when one evening, he said to his wife, “This is all wrong. This man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody throws a big party. We give our lives in faithful service to God for all these many years, but no one seems to care.”
His wife replied, “Henry, you know God doesn’t mind if we honestly question Him. You need to tell this to the Lord and get this settled now.”
Henry Morrison then went to his bedroom, got down on his knees and, shades of Habakkuk, began pouring out his heart to the Lord. “Lord, you know our situation and what’s troubling me. We gladly served you faithfully for years without complaining. But now God, I just can’t get this incident out of my mind…”
After about ten minutes of fervent prayer, Henry returned to the living room with a peaceful look on his face. His wife said “It looks like you’ve resolved the matter. What happened?”
Henry replied, “The Lord settled it for me. I told Him how bitter I was that the President received this tremendous homecoming, but no one even met us as we returned home. When I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and simply said, ‘But Henry, you are not home yet!’”
Now when we pray, “Our Father in Heaven” we know that this is a declaration of where we belong and who we belong with and who we all belong to. Since this is our identity what could the world the flesh and the devil possibly have to say to us about who we are? Nothing at all.
Colossians 3:1-4, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Ezekiel 1:26-28, “And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.”
Daniel 7:13-14, “I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
brotherpayne 