Our Father, Our Inheritance

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 15, 1989.

Sermon transcript

This morning, our scripture reading begins with Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where in the fourth chapter we’ll be reading the first seven verses, then we will turn to Matthew, chapter 6. Here’s the word of God, Galatians 4, 1 through 7. Now, I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, different nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. But his undertutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, than an heir of God through Christ. In Matthew, chapter verse 9. After this manner, therefore, craves ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We may have come today with hearts that seem to be more stone than a flesh. Lord, we may find ourselves sitting here this morning not moved by the truth of the gospel, unmoved by the things of the spirit.

Father, we pray that we all may find in you that which turns us about in our thinking and grants to us, Lord, that animation that is from above. Lord, may we be compelled, therefore, by your word and put far from us those things that would deaden our response. For your word is given for our comfort, but also for our correction. Do therefore, Lord, at this time, by Christ through the Spirit instruct us. And in this way, our Father who art in heaven. Now, first of all, it is corporate. It is plural. You need to hear it. It’s not my Father, though, of course, that is appropriate in its place. It is our Father, plural. It is corporate in character. Just who is it that Jesus is addressing? He’s addressing the disciples. There is an individual address here, all that all disciples, that each disciple would comply with those things that Jesus says. But the disciples are here gathered as a group. They are here collectively. They are plural. They are corporate. The hour belongs to them as they are congregated as an assembly before Christ, their Lord. In these disciples then, as they are so gathered, we see the Church in its infant form. The body that is being gathered, collected back, which will be described as the body of Christ. I know that I am liable to be misunderstood. But there is that sense from Scripture that teaches us that we must, first of all, learn of the corporate reality and then understand our individuality in light of it. There is a discipline involved in all of this as well. So this is specifically what conspires against our selfishness, our self-sutteredness. God is redeeming for Himself a people, and you find your place amongst the people as one of His people. The body is made up of many members, not just one.

There is the corporate dimension of the activity of God. You do not, you cannot survive on your own. Salvation is not meant for you as if for no one else. You will not be in heaven alone, nor can you be as part of the Church of Christ here, claiming to be bounded to Christ, claiming to be of an Indian, alone, solitude. And it is, you see, this beginning for the prayer Jesus teaches His disciples that lends to us that conclusive proof that Jesus’ words in verse 6, where He speaks about going into the inner room, closing the door, and there speaking to your Father who is in secret, here is the conclusive proof that Jesus, by those words, did not mean to encourage a private, individualistic retreat. Rather, you see, the inner room that Jesus has in mind is a very, very large place, so large, in fact, as to accommodate all of the children of God.

Actually, what Jesus has in mind with those words in verse 6 is a heavenly chamber into which the saints of the Lord gather in order that they might pray before their Father who is unseen. It is a corporate activity as all of the people of God enter into that chamber, close the door to the world, and there commune with the Father. The corporate character of the address, training our vision and disciplining us with regard to the character of the people of God, the nature of our faith, its focus, and its operation. We, not functioning alone, individualistically, separately, but as part of the body, with regard to this means of grace, that we are to speak then of the fellowship and the communion of the saints. The means of grace, I’ve mentioned it again, there are three. What are them? Can we rattle them off? This morning, can you give them to me?

What are the three means of grace? The word, the sacraments, and prayer, to which some have wished to add a fourth. They want to add, as a means of grace, the communion and fellowship of the saints. But you see, those of a good mind, those of a good theological and doctrinal line, have always recoiled from that. Why? Because they saw that the means of grace always have their flop of context within the fellowship and the communion of the saints. So it’s not as if you can make the fellowship and the communion of the saints as one of the means of grace, though the means of grace function within the context of the communion and the fellowship of the saints. That is why you see, I am so anxious for you that you hear the word of God in the company of other believers, that you read and rehearse and hear the word of God in the company of others, in the company of the saints, in the assembly of the Lord.

That’s why I become so impatient. It is because I am zealous for that fellowship and communion of the saints, and I am zealous for your soul, because I know that to cut yourself off from the communion and the fellowship of the saints is to cut yourself off from the means of grace. The focus is, first of all, then, on that corporate experience of the fellowship of the saints, in which these various means find their operation, and there, as it has been with the words, so also with the sacraments, do you wish to celebrate the sacraments by yourself? How about at your kitchen table, a little bread, a little wine, just you by yourself or maybe with your family members? How about a private baptism in your bathtub? In the bathtub, in the shower, a private celebration of the sacrum of baptism, you see, is unfeasible. Is it not unthinkable to you? If the sacraments are so to be considered, never to be abstracted then from the fellowship of the saints, much less than this particular aspect of the word, in that it belongs to the people, and in the assembly of the saints, that word is declared for their benefit, as with the word and the sacraments, so with prayer. You tell me about your prayers.

Your prayers were informed by and disciplined by the power of our Father. For I do prayers perpetually, disciplined by, informed by, and I, and am I. Give me, hear me, resolve my kiss. Then, you see, will you go to hear about the concerns of others? Is it conceivable of you for you to fall down on your knees and begin with someone else beside yourself, to start in your prayers with other people, or to start with an understanding that you’re part of a body, you’re part of a fellowship, that your presence at worship or when prayer is offered is important, nay, I will say essential, that you might know how to pray for one another. The message is getting through. There were 21 at prayer meetings, and the message, I’m confident, is getting through to you. And you know the truth of the things of which I stood. Of course, my hope is that I don’t have to convince you of these things, I just have to remind you. I don’t have to make an argument with you. You already know these things to be true, but I really have to remind you. It should be. You mean this in a modern sense. It should be a wonderfully spiritual experience when we, as a body, say this prayer. When the saying of it together, there is that affirmation of that confession of our corporality, our body nature, in our prayer, life and experience. And in that, we are brought under the discipline of our Lord, being trained by Him to see things in a way that takes us far beyond ourselves, just. This is probably the time for confession. I know that I have the habit of racing you through the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in our service. And some of you have spoken to me about that, especially as it relates to your children and the fact that you feel your children can’t keep up with the pace. And I appreciate that. We shouldn’t pray this prayer, recite it glibly. We should recite it in a measured manner and savor its words and endeavor as we pray together this prayer to bring from it the full and proper meaning. Beginning pronoun is also a possessive and its possession. The power of it, you see, is brought before us when we hold on to that fact which we have been learning, namely that the coming of Christ has meant a new day of prayer and a new day of prayer has come with Him. And when Jesus now encourages His disciples to pray with words like these, our Father, focusing particularly upon the possessive quality of that opening word, our, the power of it all registers upon us in that it describes something which now has become ours, which was not ours only. The Father here is described by Jesus then with this address as that one who has become our possession. He is our Father. The force of it is to suggest to us that the Father now has given Himself to us and He belongs to us. He is one upon whom we can make the claim that He is ours. The idea here therefore is not simply that of suggesting a relationship between us and the Father. He is the Father. We are His children. Yes, that is in view, but it is more for the parentage that is in view as Jesus uses these words. Our Father is parentage in an ideal sense, the sense in which this parent, this Father, is not simply our source of life and our provider like any earthly father, but ideally, idealistically conceived. This one has literally given Himself to us for our good, and He has made Himself ours for our well-being. He is the very substance of that which has been given. Of course now what is coming to expression is the marvel of the covenantal relationship that exists between the Father and the children. Between the Father and us, that covenant has been variously described and often inadequately because it likes to live at the level of the legal aspects of the arrangements that exist. The Father is legally bound. The children before the law are bound as well, and surely the covenant has those legal aspects to it, but it is much more using.

The covenant is expressive of a relationship, and what perfection is here manifested in this relationship that exists between our Father and us. Yes, it is true. We are His possession, but marvel of marvels, He has given Himself to us as our possession. We possess God. That is why this prayer expresses us, expressive of the unique relationship that exists between God and His people, setting those people apart from all others that are in the world. This prayer is not the common property of humanity. This prayer belongs to the covenantal people of God alone. It belongs to those of whom it can be said that God, the true God, the Father is their possession because the Father has given Himself to them. The sole matter of the covenant as it relates to possession is actually what is spelled out for us in the first question and answer of the short attempts, and if there was no other question than that question produced by the Westminster Assembly, we would have had all we needed to understand the marvels of God’s grace and love and the contours of His gospel overture. What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God. What does it mean to glorify God? It means to demonstrate concretely that you are His possession, that you belong to Him. But the fact is the answer doesn’t end there. It goes on. It says, and to enjoy Him forever. You see how the reflex is introduced? Not only are we God’s possession, but God has given Himself to us as our possession, that we might enjoy Him forever. And that is the goal, the objective of the covenant, and that is why it is not adequate, you see, to describe the covenant simply along the legal lines. You have to describe it, understand it along the lines of the fullness of that relationship that is in view, that covenantal bond that exists between God and His people. We belong to Him. He belongs to me and to us. What is the point of Paul’s description? In Galatians 4, the first seven verses, what is the objective? The objective is to convince the people that they are heirs. Heirs of what? Notice it again, verse 7.

Of what are you heirs? Your heirs of God. What does that mean? That means that you inherit God. Not the kingdom. Not a piece of property someplace. Not a corner of heaven. You inherit God. He becomes your possession. The kingdom of it has already been given you in the Holy Spirit, who dwells within you. The Holy Spirit is given to me as your possession. Father, corporate character of that first word, and the possessive character of that word as well. Play it from now on. Remember that there are a host of people that belong to the Father, and that you’re one. You’re one of those, and that you with them have inherited God Himself through the work of Christ the Son, by whom you have been made sons. How great you are, how magnificent you are in all of your splendor is very mighty Lord like you, yet you have revealed yourself to us through Christ as our Father. Lord, we are trained by this address to understand that we are of the company of the redeemed, but also that as such we have you as the supreme gift given to us. Now Lord, we ask that as we would pray such a prayer as you have given us through your son, that we would be cognizant of the force and power of those words which we recite.

That we, not only with our words, but by our lives, may acknowledge that you are, after all, our Father, the Father of your children, of your church, of that body which belongs to Christ. We pray these things through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.