Someone said, my religion is summed up in the
first two words of the Lord's Prayer. I want
you to just pause and think that statement through.
If you can look up this moment and have a truth,
be able to say, My Heavenly Father. My Father.
And there's that glorious relationship between
you and God. You're the richest person in the
whole world. You may be the richest person materially
living this hour. And if you only know God in
the sense of your creator, then you're the poorest
person living. You're bankrupt and not conscious
of it. My religion is summed up in the first...
Two words are the Lord's prayer. And most of
us will find ourselves in full agreement. You
know, this simple statement in itself constitutes
a definite and a complete system of theology.
And it's just like that. It fixes clearly and
distinctly the nature and the character of God.
It sums up the truth of being. It tells all that
man needs to know about God, about himself, about
his neighbor. Anything that is added to this
can only be by way of commentary and is more
likely than not to complicate, obscure the true
meaning. of the text. So simple. I want you to
know that this wonderful prayer that Jesus taught
you and taught me, and may I remind you again,
it is not the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer
was the prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father.
This prayer in the sixth chapter of Matthew is
Our prayer, my prayer, the prayer that Jesus
taught you and taught me to pray. It's so simple
and yet so profound. It actually is the complete
system of theology. It definitely, clearly, distinctly
fixes the nature and the character of God is
something more than spirit. God is more than
Mother Nature. God is definitely a person with
a definite personality. He's not just the unknown.
Not just a figment of man's imagination. Now
notice the simple, the clear -cut, the definite
statement. Our Father. Now in this clause, Jesus
lays down once and for all that relationship
between God and man. And that relationship is
the relationship between Father and Child. Maybe
the reason that it's so easy for me to accept
this relationship of father and child when it
comes to my relationship to God is because I
had such a wonderful relationship with my Papa.
Our relationship was just so close and so wonderful.
I knew that I was the apple of Papa's eye. Not
because... People said so. It's because I knew
there was that closeness. I could feel that love.
Really, I can't remember a time in my life that
my papa said, now, Catherine, I love you. I love
you more than anything else in the whole world.
I love you more than life itself. I cannot. Honestly,
ever remember Papa ever saying to me, I love
you. And yet, there was a relationship there
that I knew that he loved me enough that he would
give his life for me. I knew that. No one had
to even tell me. that my papa loved me more than
his own life. There was a fellowship. There was
a communion there. There was a depth of love
there. There did not have to be that constant
assurance. It was something that was constant
in itself. Never bearing. Never. Regardless of
circumstances, regardless of condition, it was
there, and I could stake my very life on it.
And in this clause, Jesus lays down once and
for all that relationship between God and man.
that relationship of father and child. This cuts
out any possibility that the deity should be
relentless and cruel tyrant that is often pictured
by theology. All theology can be so cruel. Theology
can be without understanding. Theology can be
hard. Theology as such can literally heal love.
The letter killeth. Jesus himself said so. The
letter of the word without the spirit killeth.
It can take away any love. It can take away the
warmness of the spirit. My father. There's no
cruelty there. And Jesus says definitely that
the relationship is that of parent and child,
not an oriental despot. Dealing with slaves.
But parent and child. Now we all know perfectly
well that men and women, however short they may
fall in their other respects, nearly always do
the best they can for their children. I don't
care who the parent might be. If that one is
human at all. They will do without themselves.
They'll sacrifice themselves. It's something
in the nature of a parent. That's why how often
a mother whose son may have committed a crime,
murder, hated by the whole world, hated by humanity,
and yet... With a clear eye, she'll walk into
the presence of a judge, walk into the courtroom,
face a jury, and say, My child is so good. My
son never did a mean thing in his life. My son
could not have committed this crime. He's so
good. How many parents have sacrificed to give
to their children? How many mothers have sacrificed
that that child could have the best? How many
fathers have sacrificed so that their son, their
daughter, would not have to go through what they
went through when they were young? trying to
spare them the hardships and the suffering. Of
course, cruel and wicked parents are to be found,
but they are so exceptional as to sometimes even
make a paragraph for the newspapers. But the
vast majority of men and women are at their best
in dealing with their children. And speaking
of the same truth elsewhere, Jesus said, If you,
who are so full of evil, nevertheless do your
best for your children, how much more will God,
who is altogether good, do for you? And so he
begins. The prayer that he's teaching us to pray.
By establishing the character of God as that
of the perfect father dealing with his children.
I have a perfect father. Now maybe Joe Kuman
wasn't a perfect man. As a child I thought he
was. To this very day I cannot think of one thing
wrong that Papa did but... Perhaps there are
folk in Concordia, Missouri, who could very quickly
point out some of the flaws in Joe Kuman's life.
Oh, sure, because he was human. I know that he
wasn't a perfect man because he was a part of
humanity. But in God, I have a perfect father.
and as a perfect father, knowing that he is absolute
perfection. I have no justification in questioning
his dealing with me as a child. I may not always
understand. I may not, and confidentially, I
do not, I have not always understood. the way
that my Heavenly Father has dealt with me. But
here comes my faith in a perfect Father. Because
He is perfect, I have no right to question His
dealings with me. Oh, I tell you this is glorious.
No wonder the man said, my religion is summed
up in the first two words of the Lord's Prayer.
When you really get down into those two words,
you absolutely have a definite and complete system
of theology. Now note something. This clause,
which fixes the nature of God, at the same time
fixes the nature of man. Because if man is the
offspring of God, he must partake of the nature
of God. And since the nature of the offspring
is invariably similar to that of the parent.
That's right. The nature of the... offspring
is invariably similar to that of the parent.
You give a child. You can see little things in
the nature of your child. You know it's like
its father or like its mother. It's a cosmic
law that like begets. It's not possible for a
rosebush to produce lilies or that a cow should
give birth to a colt. The offspring is and must
be of the same nature as the parents. And so,
since God is divine in spirit, man must essentially
be divine in spirit too. What? Ever the appearance
may say to the contrary. We are, watch this now.
We are a very part of God himself. I am not a
God unto myself. You are not a God unto yourself.
A man, a woman speaks in error when he says,
I am a God unto myself. God said, let us make
man in our image and after our own likeness.
Let us, speaking to the Son of God, speaking
to the Holy Spirit, the deity, let us make man
in our own image and after our likeness. You
and I were made in the image and the likeness
of God. There are certain characteristics about
each of us that are like unto the person of God.
But not one of us is a God unto ourself. I pray
the Holy Spirit shall make this very real and
very plain to your heart and give you an understanding.
Let us pause here for a moment and try to realize
what a tremendous step forward we have taken
in appreciating the teaching of Jesus on this
point. Do you not see that at a single blow it
swept away 99 % of all all the old theology about
the avenging God. Don't you understand? There
is such a thing as the wrath of God. Believe
me. And His wrath is just as perfect as His love.
Hell is just as real as heaven. There's no escaping
the truth. You cannot just take the wrath of
God and sweep it under the carpet and close your
eyes to it. You can't. If you do, you might just
as well destroy the Word of God because the Word
of God teaches the wrath of God. You can't just
take a penknife and just cut out the portion
of the Word of God that you do not agree with
or that you would rather not accept or face.
You have to accept the Bible as a whole or not
accept it at all. You have to accept the wrath
of God if you're going to accept His love. You're
going to have to accept hell as a fact. You're
going to have to accept judgment as a fact if
you're going to accept heaven. Because the Bible
teaches both. The love, the wrath of God. Heaven
and hell. It's like that. But remember, you do
not have to fear the wrath of God. Neither do
you have to fear the punishment of God. You do
not have to fear hell. You do not have to fear
judgment. If... There is that wonderful relationship
between you and the great creator, you and God,
the relationship of father and child. Mm -hmm.
God exists. Eternal, all -powerful, the all -present
God. But oh, that wonderful relationship. The
loving heavenly father of those who have accepted
his son in the forgiveness of their sins. That
man, that woman who has confessed his sins. That
individual who has come into the presence. of
the Son of the Living God, the great advocate,
the great mediator between God and man, Christ
Jesus, the only one who can forgive sins, the
great high priest, the only one who can forgive
sins. And when that transaction takes place,
When you have confessed your sins, accepting
what Jesus did for you on the cross, then begins
that relationship between you and God, you and
the great creator. And you too can say, My Father.