Nathaniel R. Martin

God So Loved: John 3:16

Sermon Idea: God’s love is why He sent the Son to save the world. 

Introduction: John 3:16 is the most recognizable verse in the entire Bible. It is the first verse young children memorize; you can see it on billboards along the highway and in the stands at sporting events. In 2009, Tim Tebow even etched “John 3:16” into his eye paint for the BCS National Championship game as the University of Florida quarterback. 

It is simply familiar. This familiarity, of course, is not bad, but it can become problematic when we take these familiar truths for granted. Here is one scholar describing the potential problem. 

Familiar verses can seem like the ABCs of the Christian faith—things to move beyond in order to drink from deeper wells. But if we have this attitude, we may forget key elements of the Christian gospel and miss the deeper, varied truths that are right there. – Jarvis Williams 

This evening I want to put this familiar verse before you one more time, not as the ABC’s of the Christian faith, but as the very life-giving message of the gospel and the only hope for sinners. I want us to see the deeper, varied truths that are right here. 

This Spirit has used this single verse to convict sinners, bring repentance, and bring faith in the Lord Jesus. For that reason, I decided to begin this week with this familiar verse. My simple prayer is that God will use this evening to draw people to Himself through this familiar but crystal-clear Word. 

As we look at John 3:16, I hope to show you the greatness of God’s love, the giving of the Son, and the gift of eternal life.

I.) The greatness of God’s love 

It is hard to think of a more famous use of the word “so.” If you listen closely, you can probably even hear the stress people put on the so, when they say, “For God so loved the world…” 

This word captures the greatness of God’s love because it directs our attention to both the action and the object of God’s love. 

The word “so” captures the greatness of God’s love because it shows how God’s love is made manifest. It might he helpful to read John 3:16 in the CSB, which makes this crystal clear. 

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son (Jn 3:16)

Giving His Son makes God’s love great and glorious. This act manifests His love and makes it known! This is why 1 John says that God sending His Son is love. 

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 Jn 4:9–10.

All that we have in the gospel: the sending of the Son incarnate in Jesus Christ, his perfect sacrifice on the cross in the place of sinners, his glorious resurrection from the dead, and the grace of salvation begins with God’s great love. 

As part of discipleship, I’ll often encourage people to ask several questions about Scripture. The first one I teach them to ask is, “What do these verses teach us about God?” 

We learn that God has demonstrated his love for the world in a visible, historical, and sacrificial way. God is love, and his love is great, so he manifests it by sending the Son. 

God’s love is also great because of the object of God’s love: “For God so loved the world…”

Two important points stand out here. The world is very big, and the world is very bad. 

We need to remember that Jesus is having a conversation with Nicodemus, who is described as “a ruler of the Jews.” Nicodemus expected God to send a Messiah to save Israel and to judge Israel’s enemies. He expected that Israel would be with God in his Kingdom. God’s love for Israel was little in doubt. 

John 3:16 does not say, “For God so loved Israel…” No, the Gospel of John is teaching us the greatness of God’s love and the extent to which the gospel will reach. God’s salvation through the Messiah will not be for Israel alone, but for both Jew and Gentile. In other words, it will be for the world. God loves the world: every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. There is not a people group on planet earth that we should not labor, strive, and give to get the gospel to. God loves the world. 

Something more needs to be said here. It is not just that the world is big. It is also bad. Here, the greatness of God’s love is amazing. God’s love for the world is not a love for an obedient, righteous, and holy world. It is love for the world that is wicked, rebellious, and sinful.

In fact, this is why John tells Christians not to love the world: “world,” in John’s gospel, refers to fallen, sinful humanity. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 Jn 2:15)

 God loved the world when the world did not love God. 

8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Ro 5:8)

This brings up an important practical point. The gospel will not be good news to you, and God’s love will not be great in your eyes, unless you are convicted that you are part of a wicked, rebellious world in need of salvation. 

Scripture is clear that every person in the world is in need of salvation, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Ro 3:23)

In 1 John, we are told that denying that we have sinned makes God a liar and means his word is not in us. All of us, without exception, are members of the world God loved by sending his Son, which means we all need a Savior. 

The gospel will not be sweet to you until you realize how necessary it is. 

The gospel is the good news that God loved the world that sinned against God. The manifestation of that is the giving of the Son. Let’s look at verse 16 again.

II.) The giving of God’s Son 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The phrase “only Son” carries great weight in the ESV, or “only-begotten Son” in other translations. “Son” is a royal title in the Bible, but when it refers to Jesus, it means more. It speaks to Jesus’ shared divine nature with the Father. He is the eternally-begotten Son of God.  

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:14)

We see the greatness of God’s love in giving the Son at two levels. The first is the incarnation. The eternal Son of God is sent into the world by becoming flesh and dwelling among us.

The second giving is Jesus’ offering as a sacrifice on the cross in the place of sinners. We know both are in view because John 3:16 is sandwiched between John 3:14-15 and John 3:17. 

In John 3:14-15, Jesus told Nicodemus that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also must the Son of Man be lifted up. This clearly references the cross. Jesus will be lifted up by his substitutionary death on the cross, so that all who look to him in faith will be saved. 

John 3:17, we are told that God sent the Son into the world. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (Jn 3:17)

The “giving” mentioned in 3:16 includes both sending the Son and sacrificing the Son. God’s love results in the mission of the Son of God, who leaves the glories of heaven, humbles himself by becoming human, and is sacrificed on the cross, dying in the place of sinners.

Great love and a great cost. These two themes led Isaac Watts to pen When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. 

See from His head His hands His feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did ever such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were an offering far too small

Love so amazing so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all

Since Jesus is the one whom God sent to accomplish the mission of salvation, belief in Him brings salvation. Let’s consider the final point—eternal life. 

III.) The gift of eternal life 

The purpose of giving His only Son is that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Notice that although not all will respond to the gospel, the gospel is offered to everyone. Many will hear—“whoever believes in him” — but will not believe. 

The Bible places the blame for that unbelief squarely on the unbeliever. They sin because they love the darkness, and in their sin they hate Christ’s light. 

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (Jn 3:19–20)

The end for those who do not believe is perishing. It is to be eternally separated from God, so that eternity is defined as death or perishing rather than life. 

That doesn’t have to be your story. Hear the call of the gospel. For all who believe in Jesus, there is eternal life. 

Eternal life is sharing in God’s life through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a life of quality and quantity. It includes the future resurrection and eternity with God in heaven, but also includes real, spiritual resurrection life the moment someone is saved. 

Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ can live content in the present while also hoping for the future. Listen to Jesus’ words to Martha in John 11. 

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. (Jn 11:25–26)

The comfort that these truths can bring to the Christian is many, and if taken seriously, will anchor your heart in the midst of the most difficult moments. 

The hope of eternal life transforms a fear of death, so that we can say with Paul, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”  

Eternal life means we can say, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”

When I was in North Carolina, one of my members had a heart attack. While talking to the doctor, he said, “To live is Christ and to die is gain,” to which the doctor responded, “Do you have a death wish?” 

The answer, of course, is no! The hope of eternal life means we don’t live like the world, grieve like the world, or even die like the world.

Hope in eternal life means that we can answer the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism with confidence in every word.

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

  1. That I am not my own,1 but belong—body and soul, in life and in death2—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ….Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Hear the familiar words one more time. 

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)

Amen. 

Nathaniel R. Martin

Hallowed Be Your Name: Matthew 6:9

Sermon Idea: Praying for the hallowing of God’s name means praying that God’s Holy name be known, revered, and glorified in all things. 

Introduction: This first petition, “Hallowed be your name,” centers the glory of God’s name at the very center of the Christian life. The goal of creation, humanity, and the Christian life is to live for the glory of God’s name. 

As the first question of the Westminster Catechism asks…

Q: What is the chief end of man? 

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 

The essential importance of this prayer and our great need to let it shape, form, and reorder the affections of our hearts is self-evident when considered in light of the sinful world in which we live and the competing goals offered to us as visions of an ideal life. There are contrary visions of life, parodies of God’s kingdom where the goal of living for the greatness of God’s name is replaced with the goal of making our names great. 

This is not new, but is as old as Cain and Abel. In fact, Genesis offers interesting early examples of this, which together teach us how human beings pursue contrary goals and build competing kingdoms. 

16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after his son, Enoch. (Ge 4:16–17)

4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. (Ge 11:4)

Do you see how this is contrary to the purpose and goal of creation? We read in Genesis that God created humanity in his image (Gen. 1:27). What purpose does an image like this serve other than to reflect the glory of the one in whose image we are made? 

The problem of competing visions of life and parodies of God’s kingdom, which direct us to ourselves rather than to God, remains very much with us today. From advertisements and entertainment to mainstream and social media, we are given competing visions of life that place us at the center, with little to no room to consider God’s glory. 

The glory of God is the chief end of man, and so the glory of God is the chief end of prayer. Jesus gave three petitions that are essentially one: hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. All of these are modified by the phrase, “….on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10) 

We will leave the latter two for the coming weeks. This morning we want to think well about what it means to pray, “Hallowed be your name.” What exactly are we praying for? What may come about as we pray such a prayer? 

Praying for the hallowing of God’s name means praying that God’s Holy name be known, revered, and glorified in all things.

I.) Pray God’s Holy name be known 

If we are going to pray that God’s name be hallowed, let’s take the time to understand the meaning of God’s name. As God has revealed himself in Scripture, God’s name is equivalent to God, his perfections and attributes. 

So, for example, the Bible speaks of God’s name acting for his people: May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! (Ps 20:1)

Other times we read about God’s people trusting in God’s name: Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. (Is 50:10)

Related to this, of course, is how God’s revealed name reveals his nature, essence, and character. 

13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (Ex 3:13–14)

The church has confessed and believed rightly that reveals God’s self-existence (aseity), self-sufficiency, and unchanging nature.

5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Ex 34:5–7)

 I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other (Is 42:8)

As we consider the Lord’s Prayer, remember that the Bible repeatedly confesses God’s name is holy. 

Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. (Ps 30:4)

Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name! (Ps 97:12)

 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name (Ps 103:1)

We stress this point to show that when we pray, “Hallowed be your name,” we are not making God’s name holy as if it were not already, or making it more holy as if anything were lacking in God’s perfections! God’s name is unchangeable in its holiness, for God is holy. 

Illustration: Joe’s astronomy telescope & camera, which allow us to experience the beauty and glory of the sky, stars, and planets. These tools do not make the sky, stars, and planets glorious, but allow us to experience and know that glory in a much greater way.  

As we pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,” we are not making God’s name holy but are praying that we and others would know, revere, and love God’s holy name. To do so is to know, revere, and love God himself. 

I love the way Jim Orrick puts it, “When we pray this prayer, we join in God’s work, since he has already hallowed his own name through his acts of creation, providence, and redemption”. 

The Lord tells us in Ezekiel 36:23, “… And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name.”

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. (Ps 8:1)

When God tells Israel why he delivered them out of Egypt and made them a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation for the sake of his name: 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. (Ex 9:16)

II.) Pray God’s Holy name be revered among all peoples 

God has revealed his holy name in his acts of creation, providence, and redemption. When we pray, “Hallowed be your name,” we ask that all peoples glorify God in all the ways He has revealed Himself. 

I think the Baptist catechism again helps clarify what we are praying for. 

Question 108: What do we pray for in the first petition?

Answer: In the first petition, which is “Hallowed be thy name,” we pray that God would enable us and others to glorify Him in all that whereby He makes Himself known, and that He would dispose all things to His own glory.

Let’s be more specific: what does it mean to pray this way? 

  1. We pray that all peoples come to acknowledge the glory of creation and, therefore, the glory of God as Creator. That this acknowledgment would lead to faith in Christ and the proper worship of God. 
  2. We pray that God saves sinners, resurrecting their dead rebellious hearts unto salvation. Salvation is of the Lord and to his glory. Our aim in praying this prayer is that God’s Holy name would become precious to those who were once lost in sin. 
  3. We pray for the planting, strengthening, and health of churches, which are outposts of God’s kingdom on earth. We pray that as churches are planted among the nations, strengthened, and made healthy, the name of God is glorified. 
  4. We pray for a deepening love of God among God’s people. That we would greatly fear the Lord, sincerely love the Lord, and have true joy in the Lord as we long to behold his beauty in heaven: One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after:  that I may dwell in the house of the LORd all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. (Ps 27:4)

III.) Pray God’s Holy name be glorified in all things 

To pray, “Hallowed be your name,” is not only to pray that God’s holy name be revered among all peoples, but that it be glorified in all things. 

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen (Ro 11:36)

The last line of the answer in the Baptist Catechisms is “and that He would dispose all things to His own glory.”

There is a great comfort in praying this way with this particular aspect in mind. We cannot understand, and we are free to dislike, a particular circumstance or event, whether it be personal, national, or global. Even so, we pray that God works in the situation we don’t understand or perhaps don’t even like, and we pray that God would dispose of it all to his glory. 

Perhaps that means God will take something meant for evil and use it for good. Maybe it means God’s justice and judgment might be fully felt on the final day. Perhaps it’s that God works mightily to turn our failures and mistakes into sanctifying graces that mature us in the Lord. 

Nathaniel R. Martin

Our Father in Heaven: Matthew 6:7-9

Sermon Idea: In Christ, we have a heavenly Father to whom we pray, who is both good and great. 

Introduction: The Lord’s Prayer has been foundational to Christian discipleship since Jesus instructed his disciples how to pray. Historically, it has been grouped with the Apostles’ Creed and the Ten Commandments as foundational building blocks of Christian discipleship. At baptism, or in preparation for baptism, believers were taught what to believe (the Apostles’ Creed), how to live (the Ten Commandments), and how to pray (the Lord’s Prayer). 

You can find brief explanations of all three in the most influential catechisms and full expositions of each commandment and each petition of the Lord’s Prayer in some of the best works of theology. 

I share this for no other reason than to encourage you that spending extensive time on such a short section of Scripture is not only warranted, but has proved essential to the saints throughout Christian history.  We must know how to pray as the people of God, and there is no better place to begin than with Jesus’ teaching in what is known as the Lord’s Prayer. 

Most of you are no doubt familiar with it, but you may or may not share the appreciation for it that many Christians who’ve gone before us do. 

They would refer to the Lord’s Prayer as a summary of the whole gospel and a collection of heavenly doctrine. 

This prayer models ours by showing us what to prioritize, what to request, and whom to address in prayer. As Frederick Bruner writes, “The Lord’s prayer stretches from the Father at the beginning to the devil at the end, from heaven to hell, and in between in six brief petitions (about) everything important in life.”– Frederick Bruner

The context is Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, first beginning with Jesus teaching about proper motivation for prayer in Matthew 6:5-6. Jesus then instructs the disciples not to pray like the Gentiles who heap up empty phrases. 

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: (Mt 6:7–9)

Here, Jesus isn’t prohibiting long prayer or repeatedly praying for similar things. We might think of the worshippers of Baal in 1 Kings 18 or the people in Ephesus who shout out to Artemis in Acts 19. That’s the kind of prayer he rebukes—a rambling of empty phrases. 

We are to pray in faith, believing our Father not only hears us but knows what we need before we ask. The mention of the Father brings us to our focus this morning: who we address in our prayers. 

What I want us to see this morning can be summarized as follows: 

In Christ, we have a heavenly Father to whom we pray, who is both good and great.

Our prayer lives may struggle because we lack information—where to begin and how to pray—but they may also struggle because our thoughts about God are too small, too deficient, and we miss how good and great God truly is. 

So let’s think about Jesus teaching us to pray to the Father in heaven, who is both good and great.

I.) Pray to our heavenly Father 

Jesus teaches us to pray “Our Father in heaven…”

We can speak of God as Father in three ways.

1.) We can speak of God as Father because of the divine life of God, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We read in the Bible about God’s only-begotten Son, so we can speak of God as Father, as Jesus does, in relation to the Son and the Holy Spirit (Psalm 2:7; Matthew 3:17; John 3:16). 

2.) We can also speak of God as Father because God is the creator and preserver of all creation. In a sense, God is the Father of all strictly because God has created every single person in the image of God. For example, the prophet Malachi asks, 10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? (Mal 2:10) 

The Bible teaches us, though, that every person has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Every person has become estranged from God, who created us, and has become an enemy of God because of sin (Ephesians 2:3) 

“When it is used as such, however, the name Father cannot give any comfort, but it still instills terror due to man having fallen away from Him and God having become a wrathful avenger in consequence of sin.” – Wilhelmus A. Brakel 

3.) God is Father because of his great grace to adopt sinners as his children who have placed their faith in Christ and who are united with the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This is the personal use of the word Father to refer to God. Jesus calls God Father because he is a Son by nature. Every Christian believer calls God Father by grace because of our adoption. This is how Jesus is using “Our Father” here in verse 9. 

In Ephesians, we learn that God planned our adoption before the foundation of the world. 

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Eph 1:4–5)

This adoption is finalized as we place our faith in Jesus Christ, the true Son of God. 

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (Jn 1:12–13)

…for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (Ga 3:26)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 Jn 3:1)

This matters for our understanding of the Lord’s Prayer. When Jesus says, “Our Father…” he is using it in the personal sense. We relate to God the same way Jesus does! He calls God Father because he is by nature the true Son of God. We call God Father with him because, by God’s grace, we have been adopted and made true sons and daughters of God! 

In other words, we are to pray as sons and daughters of God—not as peasants before a judge, but as children before a Father. 

We approach God as Jesus does, and we address God as Jesus does. 

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! (Ro 8:15)

This means, friends, we can come to the Creator of the universe, the almighty and sovereign God, as a needy child approaches their mom or dad. We can come freely, boldly, knowing our God hears us and will respond to the needs of his people. 

It means we approach God in prayer with full confidence in his love for us and his delight in us. Beloved, your adoption by God’s grace means he looks at you the same way he looked at Jesus at his baptism: “This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter with whom I am well pleased.” 

Our prayer lives will deepen the more we believe, rejoice, and reflect on the great grace we have received in adoption. We are children of God in Christ, and so we pray with Jesus, “Our Father in Heaven…” 

This is all actually related to why we are taught to pray to the Father. 

This brings us to a question often asked. Why does Jesus teach us to pray to the Father? Can we also pray to Jesus and the Holy Spirit? 

The answer to this second question is, yes… but. 

It is not theologically problematic to pray to Jesus or the Spirit becasue they are God. In the New Testament, there are some rare cases of people directing prayers to Jesus, although none to the Spirit. So, yes, we could. 

But the predominant pattern of prayer throughout the New Testament is to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Spirit. Why is this the predominant pattern, and why should we pay careful attention to it for our prayer life? 

Praying in this way reinforces the Trinitarian nature of our salvation. It rehearses how we are right with God, and it allows meditation on the very nature of God’s triune life. What do I mean by that? 

Think with me about how we are saved. The Holy Spirit convicts us and draws us to Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man, who is our access to the Father. 

The Spirit always points to and magnifies the Son, and when the Son is lifted up, it is to the glory of God the Father. 

Listen to how Ephesians 2:18 describes our salvation. 

18 For through him (Christ) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Eph 2:18)

So when we allow Scripture to form and shape our prayer life, rather than praying generally to God, we pray to the Father through the Son and in the Spirit, aligning our prayer life with the reality of our spiritual lives. 

Fred Sanders says it this way, “…your Christian existence is a life that has been brought to the throne of the Father by the work of the Son in the power of the Spirit. Your prayers are verbal actions that follow the same path: to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. Consciously Trinitarian prayer is an invitation to align our words with the more all-encompassing reality of your life as God has constituted it.”

It is no small thing to call God Father. It is an amazing privilege granted to us by grace. We don’t deserve it. This pattern trains us to remember that we come to God only through Christ—the one mediator between God and man. We don’t come in our own strength, name, or ability; we come through him. 

II.) Pray to our heavenly Father, believing he is good 

As we listen to Jesus teach us to pray to the Father, we need to pray believing that our heavenly Father is good. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about the Father’s goodness. We can say a lot about this, but I want to highlight three clear, obvious verses that speak to God’s goodness. 

Jesus encourages us to pray because “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8) 

How many of you know well what your children need materially, physically, and emotionally? How many of you withhold needs? None of you do, and you are but frail, finite sinners. How much better is the perfect God in knowing our needs? 

Pray believing that God is good. Pray believing that God is love. Pray believing that he is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 

Our Father’s goodness is also taught to us in his care for creation. As Jesus is teaching us not to be anxious, he appeals to God’s goodness in dressing the lilies of the field and feeding the birds of the air. 

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? (Matthew 6:30)

Our Father is good; we need not hesitate to pray to him. He knows our needs, hears us, and will care for us more than the grass of the field.

The third example of the Father’s goodness is in chapter seven, and it’s worth quoting in full. 

9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 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! (Mt 7:9–11)

Our Father is good. And because he is good, we should keep something in mind. Good fathers and mothers say no to their children out of love and for their good. 

If we, who are finite sinners, will say no to our children, who will say no to our children? How can we believe that a “no” from a sovereign and perfect God can’t also be good? 

Beloved, a good heavenly Father answers every prayer. Only good yeses, good nos, and good not-yets exist. Brakel is so good once again: “It is fatherly love when He gives, and it is fatherly love when He withholds.” 

To pray, “Our Father” rightly evokes feelings of warmth, intimacy, love, and joy. That is the right and good. We should approach God as a child approaching a loving Father.

Just as we are to believe our Father is good, we need to believe that he is great.

III.) Pray to our heavenly Father, believing he is great 

We are to pray to “Our Father in heaven.”

God is not limited to a place, but because we are weak and finite, God condescends to us, so we think of his dwelling place and throne as being in the heavens. 

The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. (Ps 11:4)

God in the heavens reveals God’s true attributes. 

He is omnipotent—all-powerful. Our God has no limits, and nothing compares to his greatness. 

He is omniscient—all-knowing. God knows all things actual and possible. He learns nothing and forgets nothing. The God we pray to knows better than we do. 

He is omnipresent—all-present. We cannot escape God’s presence, and how comforting that is for prayer. There is no place we could go where he could not hear us, find us, and minister to us. 

How might this form and shape our prayer life? If God as Father helps us approach as a child, God’s greatness reminds us to come with reverence. Our Father is still God. We still come with reverence, with righteous fear of the Lord. 

I really love how the Baptist Catechism captures both the Idea of approaching as a child and with reverence. We will let it have the final word. 

The Baptist Catechism, Question #107

Question: What doth the preface of the Lord’s prayer teach us?

Answer: The preface of the Lord’s prayer, which is Our Father which art in heaven,¹ teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others.