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We know prayer is a “must” of worship. Yet, even with something as “safe” as the Lord’s Prayer, we need to think, “Can we do this?” And if so, “Why should we do it?”
Here are three reasons why we should say the Lord’s Prayer in our church services:
1. Jesus told us to use it.
Jesus, in instructing his disciples on the basics of prayer, uses the imperative and tells them to “Pray in this manner!” (Matt. 6:9), going on to then give what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. This has been taken to mean—and rightly so—that the Lord’s Prayer should be used as a template for prayer, that we are to pray like this. This is true. Yet, in Luke’s account, Jesus’ words are slightly different: “When you pray, say this…” (11:2). This shows us that the Lord’s Prayer is not just a guiding principle, but rather a model prayer which should be constantly used.
We can be so easily distracted and misguided in our prayers, and what better way to protect against this than by using words Jesus himself composed for our communication with the Father! As John Calvin noted, “We know we are requesting nothing absurd, nothing strange or unseemly—in short, nothing unacceptable to him—since we are asking in his own words” (Institutes, 2.20.34).
2. The church has historically used this prayer.
The tradition of reciting the Lord’s Prayer in worship goes back long before the Reformation, all the way to the ancient church fathers. The Didache, a guide to Christian life and worship dating back (at least) to the second century, instructed that this prayer be used three times a day! The use of the prayer was a staple in the medieval church, and the Reformers retained the practice. After all, the Reformers were only ridding the church of idolatrous worship—they kept the biblical parts!
The Westminster Assembly’s The Directory for the Publick Worship of God (1645) suggests the corporate use of this prayer in service: “And because the prayer which Christ taught his disciples is not only a pattern of prayer, but itself a most comprehensive prayer, we recommend it also to be used in the prayers of the church.”
3. It’s a tool for learning the Christian faith.
If you look at the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, you will find that they include an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer. Why? Because the theologians who wrote these catechisms recognized that learning this prayer was a great tool in teaching doctrine.
Think about this in terms of our children in worship. Admittedly, there will be elements of the service that they will not fully comprehend or be able to participate in. They may not be able to read along with the scripture text completely, or pay attention during the entire sermon, or sing the words to all the hymns. But they certainly learn well by imitation and repetition. By including certain forms on a weekly basis, our children will pick them up in no time and be able to participate in these areas of worship.
There is great theology about our great God behind the brief stanzas of the Lord’s Prayer. By providing an opportunity for that to seep into our minds, we provide one more way for believers to learn about their heavenly Father’s power, provision, and protection—and thus the need to pray to him often.
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Each of us will come to the end of our days on this earth. According to author David Gibson, every Christian should be focused on living life backward in the meantime. What does that mean?
God has called us to participate in ordinary pursuits of life, such as eating, working, playing, sleeping, marrying, having children, and worshipping him. While we have control over our decisions on certain matters, many aspects of life are simply beyond our control. In his book Living Life Backward Gibson writes, “We are each writing the story of our lives, but we are not the main author” (p. 52).
We need to take comfort in God’s sovereign hand over all.
We often wrestle with past choices we have made: Should I have moved here? What if I had pursued a different vocation? Should I have married this person? Additionally, what we are able to choose to do depends upon the stage of life in which we find ourselves. It has been said that “youth is wasted on the young,” meaning that we would do a much better job of living life if only we knew when younger what we came to learn over time.
It’s part of life in this world to mourn our poor choices and wish we could have known the consequences of our decisions at the time and taken a different direction. Yet, God uses our experiences both to teach us wisdom and to sanctify us, growing us in holiness and conforming us to the image of his Son, and what may have seemed to be a less than ideal path is actually where God ordained for us to travel in his perfect will.
By living life backward, we can make wiser decisions along the way.
Knowing that we are limited in knowledge can cause us to freeze in fear, becoming filled with worry that we will make mistakes in future decisions, but we need to take comfort in God’s sovereign hand over all, including our own choices. Gibson reminds us that
It is part of living well to accept two things: first, we are enclosed within time’s bounds, and, second, God is not. What we do comes and goes, but “whatever God does endures forever” (3:14). (p. 52)
We cannot become wise by hiding from the world and living in a bubble. Because you’re not God, you’re going to make mistakes. Yet, these mistakes are permitted in God’s perfect wisdom, and he will use them to grow your faith and wisdom. By focusing on living life backward, thinking about what we want to accomplish and who we want to be when our time here on earth in done, we can make wiser decisions along the way.
Consider grabbing a cup of coffee or tea and taking ten to thirty minutes today to ponder what you want to accomplish before the end of your life, focusing on the nurturing of your relationships and loving and serving those whom God has placed in your life while you’re here on earth. Write down some short, intermediate, and long-term goals either in a journal or an electronic note and go back now and then to revisit what you wrote and make adjustments as needed along the way. As the old saying goes, aim at nothing and you’re sure to hit it!
If you’re not sure what to do, begin with trusting in Christ as your Savior and then strive to keep God’s commands with a thankful heart.
We can always take heart that no matter how close or far away we are at any point in time when it comes to accomplishing our plans, it’s God’s will that matters most and he is sovereign everything in our lives:
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. (Prov. 16:9)
As Christians we have the consequent duty to obey our heavenly Father in all we do. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes the preacher declares:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Eccles. 12:13)
Be humble, recognize how limited your knowledge is, seek godly counsel from Scripture and wise people in your life, pray without ceasing, rest in God’s sovereignty and your sure hope in Christ, and focus on this day that has been given to you. When looking backward as you approach death, rejoice that this “end” is also the beginning of eternal life in the presence of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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As Christians we commit ourselves to the truth of God’s word—we profess to worship and believe in the truth incarnate, Jesus Christ, and we devote ourselves to the study of God’s written truth, namely, his word.
We regularly seek the truth of God’s word each and every Lord’s Day as we go to church and draw near to Christ through the means of grace—word, sacrament, and prayer. We walk away from a worship service and give thanks to God when one of his faithful ministers heralds the truth and preaches the gospel of grace. But as dedicated as we are to knowing and living the truth, many of us fear it.
We can have trepidation over undergoing the scalpel of God’s truth.
Seeking the truth is like going to the dentist—we know we need to go, and it’s good for our dental health, but many do not want the dentist poking around in our mouth because we fear what he will find. We fear what the dentist’s shiny headlamp will reveal in the inner recesses of our mouths. As he pokes and prods the crevices of our teeth and shines his light into the darkness, will the dentist discover tooth decay, tender spots in our gums, or uncover the need for serious surgery when he exposes disease through the all-knowing gaze of an x-ray?
We fear such things because we want to avoid pain and discomfort—we want to avoid the dentist’s diagnosis if it means that we will need a root canal! If we knew in advance that the dentist would give us a clean bill of health, then I suspect that no one would fear the dentist. But the best brushing and flossing can’t perfectly guarantee such results.
God’s truth will always be to our benefit and spiritual health.
We must remember that God’s word brings his all-powerful word to bear into our lives. Even though we might have trepidation over undergoing the scalpel of God’s truth, his careful surgeon’s hand will never destroy the church or us.
God’s truth always edifies. Truth, however, will always corrode and destroy idolatry. Unlike the dentist, who might misdiagnose our condition and needlessly perform a procedure we don’t need, God’s truth will always be to our benefit and spiritual health. When we read the word or hear something objectionable in a sermon, we should pause, listen, weigh, and consider whether God has uncovered a weakness in our lives that requires treatment.
Never fear the truth or where it leads.
If we fear truth’s incision, it might be that God has targeted an infected part of our life that requires careful removal, and if we recoil or flee, the weakness will only grow stronger and thus leave us weaker. Never, therefore, fear the truth or where it leads. God uses his truth to conform us to the image of Christ, to burn away the dross of sin in our lives, so that God’s glory shines all the more brilliantly to his glory and praise.
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Want to ignite that loving feeling in your marriage? Here are seven ways:
Voicing your feelings of love to your spouse is important, but there’s much more to love than words. Marital love is also about how you treat your spouse. Paul tells husbands to love their “wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). Read 1 Corinthians 13 and look for how many words Paul uses to describe the active nature of love. Author Bob Goff nails this point by giving his bestselling book the title Love Does.
2. Say you’re sorry.
There is a popular quote from the 1970 movie Love Story that states, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” While Jesus never had to apologize because he never sinned, it is a different matter for the rest of us. Say you are sorry for whatever you have said or done that has hurt your spouse and mean it.
Note to offended party: Forgive your spouse, and leave the wrong in the past where it belongs. If you have trouble doing this, ask the Lord for his help and keep trying. You would want your spouse to do the same for you. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus commands us to forgive those who trespass against us (Matt. 6:12).
3. Sandwich any criticism with praise on both sides of it.
If you would like your spouse to make a change in some area, discuss it privately. Sandwich the request between two things you appreciate about your spouse. Be kind and sensitive when sharing, and try to be as positive and affirming as possible.
Ask your spouse if there is an area in which you can also improve. Both of you should make a dedicated effort to make these changes as much as your conscience and abilities allow.
4. Be thankful for what you’ve got.
Appreciate your spouse’s good qualities and try to minimize in your mind aspects of your marriage that are not what you would like them to be (with the exception of abusive behavior, of course). This requires maturity, sacrifice, commitment, discipline, and, generally speaking, character.
Maybe your spouse isn’t providing as much money for the family as you expected. Maybe he or she has serious health problems that prevent you both from experiencing a normal marital relationship. Even if you encourage your spouse to make certain changes, the results may be minimal. It’s lovely if you can be happy, but a marriage should be focused on something far more important: honoring God in all.
Putting yourself first on a regular basis is a sure-fire way to damage a marriage, or any relationship for that matter. On the other hand, some people wrongly think that being unselfish means they must allow their spouse or significant other to abuse them.
Marriage involves sacrifice—lots and lots of sacrifice. If you aren’t willing to give sacrificially, don’t get married. If you are around someone who abuses you, get away to a safe place—even if it means another physical location—and seek the help of your church leadership and civil authorities.
God made fun, and he wants us to enjoy the good gifts of his creation. Make time for enjoyable activities with your spouse. Marriage is a journey. Try to avoid constantly evaluating the quality of your relationship. Feelings ebb and flow over time. This is a normal part of marriage. Try to do fun things together as much as you possibly can.
7. Repeat above steps as needed.
A healthy marriage takes a lot of work, but it’s worth all the effort and sacrifice. Keep going. Seek out support from your pastor, extended family, friends, and trusted resources. As the apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians 6:2,
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Don’t just go through the motions. There is never a point in time when spouses should neglect their marital relationship. Marriages need tending, just like every other growing thing in life.
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Debate concerning the doctrine of justification is nothing new. In fact, it is because of wrong views of justification that the apostle Paul wrote statements like these:
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Gal. 2:21)
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ But the law is not of faith. (Gal. 3:11-12a)
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 4:24-25)
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? (Gal. 3:1)
As sinful creatures, the gospel does not come naturally to us. We need to be reminded over and over again of the fact that God’s grace is lavish. It comes as no surprise that a biblical conception of justification would cause offense, for justification is the very heart of the gospel. That is precisely why justification is so important. “Because if this article stands,” said Luther, “the church stands; if this article collapses, the church collapses” (Weimarer Ausgabe 40/3.352.2-3).
Now that you know that justification is important, here are seven things you need to know about it and why.
1. God justifies sinners.
In Romans 3:22b-24a Paul says, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift.” A few verses after this he asks, “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded” (v. 27a). Have you ever felt like you sinned too gravely to be forgiven? Have you ever questioned your salvation because you really messed up? Maybe you struggle with certain sins that you can’t seem to master, and you wonder how God can possibly accept you. You are a sinner—but there is good news for you: God only justifies sinners.
The “righteous” do not need a savior; it is for sinners that Christ died. By living a perfect life in your place, dying on the cross, rising again on the third day and ascending into heaven, Christ enacted a great exchange: where he deserved life, he received your death; and in his resurrection, which proved him righteous, you are declared righteous. If you believe this, then your truest identity is no longer sinner; rather, whatever can be said about Christ with regard to righteousness can now be said about you.
2. Christ’s righteousness is your justification.
Before Luther had his breakthrough in understanding justification, he felt deeply troubled over Romans 1:17, which says, “For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” This last part of the verse is from Habakkuk 2:4. “But how can one be righteous in relation to God’s righteous law?” Luther asked. He thought he had to be inwardly righteous himself to be justified.
When Luther came to realize that it is an alien righteousness received through faith that justifies, and not one’s own righteousness, he had the breakthrough that led to the Reformation. “I am not good and righteous, but Christ is,” Luther said. And the same is true for us.
3. It is received through faith alone.
Let’s be clear: faith is a gift, an instrument through which you receive Christ—not a work of your own. As Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” You are saved through faith, not on the basis of your faith. The focal point is Christ, the object of your faith, not faith itself.
Misunderstanding this distinction can lead to much emotional pain in regard to assurance. Doubts such as “But what if my faith is not good enough?” or “My faith feels weak right now” could potentially trouble the mind. Faith is the instrument through which you behold Christ. It is a gift from God, and thus it is Christ alone who saves you. Don’t look to yourself or even to your faith to save you but to Christ who is your righteousness and who has already said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), concerning what needs to be done for your salvation.
4. You can’t lose your justification.
Christ’s death was efficacious. He shed his blood for actual people. This means that none for whom he died can be lost—ever. Rather, just as surely as he has been raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, you also have been raised and are already, in Christ, seated with him in heaven (Eph. 2:6).
Nothing can alter the finality or efficacy of Christ’s blood. His resurrection is your resurrection. In him, salvation is not merely possible, but actual. This means that you can take great joy in knowing that you are truly safe in God’s mighty hand. It also means that there is no need to fear future judgment, but rather, that you can with great peace await your Savior’s return.
5. Justification is apart from your good works.
Luke 23:39-43 recounts Christ’s death beside two criminals:
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
This criminal himself said his sentence of death was just—by his deeds he deserved death. Yet, Christ told him that very day he would be with him in Paradise. Rather than a mere word of encouragement, this was a pronouncement—Christ was preaching this word to this criminal. As Isaiah 55:11 says,
“so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Do you think the criminal had any time to merit paradise for himself after this pronouncement? What good works would he have accomplished while nailed to a cross? Yet, the Lord received him with no less love and joy, because Christ’s work was the only work that could justify him.
6. Justification is not sanctification.
Justification is a legal declaration regarding your state before God, the judge of all. Sanctification is an inward renewal and process through which you grow in godliness. Justification happens once; sanctification happens throughout your life as a believer. Justification is prior to sanctification, logically speaking (not in terms of importance). What this means is that sanctification flows out from the life of a justified person, and not the other way around.
These are important distinctions. Get this wrong, and you fall into error in your understanding of the gospel and may end up thinking you can contribute in some way to your justified state through sanctification, or that there is something left for you to earn through your own works. As John Murray wrote,
If justification is confused with regeneration or sanctification, then the door is opened for the perversion of the gospel at its center. Justification is still the article of the standing or falling church. (Redemption Accomplished and Applied [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015], 128)
7. Our justification is not a license to sin, but a reason to express gratitude.
You are already justified in Christ. Yet, this is not a license to sin. There tend to be two main responses to the gospel: 1) sin, or 2) gratitude. There are some who, after hearing the good news of the gospel, say, “Well, if that is true, why not sin all the time?” or “Tell someone that and they’ll have no reason not to sin.” These responses come from a heart that has not yet understood what Christ has done. They have not heard the gospel.
Yet, there are others who, having been weighed down by the burden of their sin and knowing they cannot defeat it, hear the words of the gospel and with great peace, say, “I’m free.” This person does not respond with statements of doubt or sin, but with faith and gratitude; this person does not turn back to the filth in which she was enslaved, but looks to Christ over and over again, moved by the lavishness of his grace (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 86-87). And truly, his grace is lavish.
Michelle Reedholds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Westminster Seminary California. Her interests include theology, poetry, and philosophy, of which she has studied both academically and spontaneously.
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The second of the Ten Commandments directs us against images. It expressly forbids the use of images in the worship of God. But does this means images such as pictures to help us learn about God are also forbidden?
We must be careful to avoid placing our own wisdom and desires above God’s.
The plain teaching of Scripture forbids the use of visual images in regard to the worship of God:
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exod. 20:4)
In fact, the Bible also is clear that faith comes by hearing, not by sight:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:17)
…for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7)
God has chosen to reveal himself by means of the spoken word.
It is not by the sight of pictures or other visual forms that a person comes to faith, but by God’s appointed means of hearing his word, the gospel message. But some will object and assert that pictures, even pictures of Jesus, helps a person learn. But is our faith so weak that we cannot trust God when he tells us that faith comes by hearing not by sight?
The Heidelberg Catechism, first published in 1563, is a highly regarded summary of the Christian faith and has the following to say about the second commandment:
“Q. But may not images, as books for the unlearned, be permitted in churches?
A. No, we should not try to be wiser than God. He wants the Christian community instructed by the living preaching of his Word— not by idols that cannot even talk.” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 98)
Believe God and trust him when he forbids images and reveals to us that faith comes by hearing, not by sight.
Even pictures of Jesus can only hinder our understanding of God’s truth. For instance, no true picture of Jesus exists, so the ones artists do make merely reflect the artist’s own image of our Savior rather than what God has sovereignly revealed by his word. An image also cannot truly reflect the deity of Christ , only his humanity, which again serves only to limit our knowledge of Christ Jesus.
Believe God and trust him when he forbids images and reveals to us that faith comes by hearing, not by sight. Be careful to avoid placing our own wisdom and desires above God’s. For, in God’s wisdom he has appointed hearing his word as the means for coming to faith and for following him. He even teaches little children through hearing. Trust the Lord and believe that it is God’s word heard that calls us to himself, and believe him when he says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
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If you are anything like me (Type A, a little tightly wound and productivity-oriented—but in the most lovable and laid-back way), interruptions are most likely not your favorite thing. Providentially, I am at a point in my life in which I am not working outside of the home, and I have two young children at my heels all day, ages two and four. Some days it feels like my whole day was an interruption. I wake up in the morning with a very productive day planned out in front of me, and often times find myself struggling to recall at the end of the day what I “accomplished.”
It is at these times we need to be reminded of the vital importance of loving, nurturing, and caring for our children, even when doing so seems to “get in the way” of the many tasks and duties that are required of a parent every day. Children are needy, easily distracted, and in constant need of correction. As much as we love our children with all that we are, sometimes it is tempting to long for the luxury of just being left alone.
Correcting little ones for the same things over and over gets exhausting. Have you ever found yourself thinking, “Why are my children doing this again? They were just disciplined for this yesterday!” How quickly we forget that as parents we often battle the same sins again and again as well. Children have a way of exposing our own sin.
Discipline should be an opportunity for a moment of grace.
I have been reading a book on parenting that I highly recommend,Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family (Crossway, 2016) by Paul Tripp. The book reminded me of my calling to my children and not only encouraged me to endure these interruptions, but also to thank God for them and to see them as moments of grace. Tripp reminds us that we are the first experience with authority our children have. We set the tone in their lives with what it looks like to have authority and how they are expected to submit to it.
As tempting as it is to simply set rules, play judge, and then throw down the hammer, overlooking loving, biblical instruction is a huge opportunity missed. Tripp reminds us that this authority we are given is ambassadorial authority from the King himself—we have no authority of our own. These precious lambs in our care are not ours but belong to God. Therefore, we are to reflect the authority of our heavenly Father.
In the lives of your children, you are the look of God’s face, you are the touch of his hand, and you are the tone of his voice. (Tripp, p. 116)
Wow, that thought alone caused me to pause. How often does my correction of my children meet that definition? Less often than I would like, to say the least.
Discipline should be a good moment of parenting.
Tripp goes on to explain how these constant interruptions should be welcomed:
Be thankful for these little moments. Don’t look at them as the bad moments of parenting, as hassles and interruptions; these are the good moments of parenting. These are moments of grace. (Tripp, p. 118)
These seemingly insignificant battles over sharing toys or finishing chores or arguing with siblings are the everyday moments in which our children are exposing their sinful hearts and giving us opportunities to lovingly correct and instruct them. As tempting as it is to address the behavior itself and leave it at that, there is such an opportunity missed to get at the heart of the real issue and explain to them why they act the way they do and why they have hope to conquer the sin that is within them.
May we all learn to slow down, embrace these moments of grace, and point our children to their Savior with every opportunity we are given.
Erica Chaseis a wife, mother, entrepreneur, and SoCal native. She loves cooking, baking, event planning, and finding pretty much any reason to gather with friends and family over a delicious meal.
This article was originally published on March 18, 2018.
