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(God our Father: Matthew 6:9-13)

Would it work the same to relate to God as Mother as to relate to God as Father? Why do you think that?

What does it mean that God is a Father? What are the implications?

What was your dad like when you were growing up? In what ways has his example helped/hindered your trust in your heavenly Father?

If, for whatever reason, we have come to see fatherhood negatively, is it possible to view God’s Fatherhood positively? And, if so, how?

The Old Testament is more than ten times longer than the four Gospels. In it, God is referred to as a Father 14 times. Jesus refers to him or calls him Father 156 times. What accounts for this striking disparity?

 

Jesus was the only Jewish person we know of to address God as Father in 3,000 years of extant Jewish literature. What are the implications of this?

 

Read the story in Luke 2:41-51. Luke says that Jesus’s parents didn’t understand what he was saying to them. What didn’t they understand?

 

How can the “Lord’s Prayer” help us think rightly about God’s fatherhood?

 

What does it mean to “hallow” God’s name? How can we cooperate with God in doing so?

 

Read Psalm 139:1-4. Would you be comfortable having your earthly dad know you that well? What about your heavenly “Abba”?

 

Jesus taught that the Father loves us (see John 3:16; 14:21-24; 16:27; Matthew 18:12-14; see also Eph. 2:4-5; 1 John 3:1; Romans 5:8). What is God’s love like? Try to describe it.


Jesus prayed, “Father, everything is possible for you” (Mark 14:36), yet the Father did not do what Jesus asked. What should we learn about God’s Fatherhood from Jesus’s experience?

 

What steps might you take to better relate to God as your heavenly Father?

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