“His Kingdom, His Will”
Matthew 6:10
March 29, 2009
I am indebted today for several thoughts to Timothy Peck, a California pastor; his excellent insights were a help in today’s message.
As we said last week, I begin my praying, not with a focus on myself and whatever needs I might have, but rather with a focus on God. After I have taken care of answering the relationship questions raised by “Our Father in Heaven”, I then turn my attention to God’s priorities. God’s priorities matter more than do my own. I do not pray then for things to take place that I know to be contrary to the will of God as revealed in His Word; that’s an easy call. It is God’s priorities that must increasingly become my own; it’s God’s loves, and God’s hates, and God’s purposes, and God’s plans, to which I must give my own attention and effort. And so I continue my praying, not with a laundry list of my own desires, but by agreeing that what matters most to me is what matters most to God, specifically, three things: His character, His kingdom, and His cause. (Read text)
TalkAbout
Martin Luther once said that if most Christians really understood what they were saying whey they prayed this part of the Lord’s Prayer, they’d shudder with fear. Why do you think he’d say that?
What we are talking about in today’s text is
Praying God’s Priorities
Note first that when we pray, we acknowledge that things are broken in this world. It’s an underlying assumption in Jesus’ prayer here, in the very fact that we pray.
• I am broken
o I tend to pray most fervently when something or someone closely related to me is broken.
Broken health
Broken relationship
Broken financially or spiritually
o But the greater truth is that I am personally broken as a result of my sin, in such a way that I desperately need the fix that only God offers me in Christ. Further,
• The world is broken; it isn’t the way it’s supposed to be, in many ways.
o Environmentally, we’ve abused the world we were supposed to steward.
o Economically, we’re broken by our greed and impatience, and now we are reaping the whirlwind.
o Globally, we’re broken and divided into nations that spy on each other & war against each other.
o Relationally, we have abandoned God’s standards for getting along with each other, making and breaking marriage covenants like ‘tain’t no big deal.
o Spiritually, we’ve chased after false gods of our own making instead of the true God. Need I go on?
When I pray, I am acknowledging that things aren’t the way they are supposed to be in this world, that it is only God Who can fix things, ultimately. When I pray this prayer, when I engage in saying and meaning the things we’re going to talk about today, I am asking God that things be fixed. But briefly, before I get there, I note
I. His Character (6:9b)
We looked at His character last week. I have prayed that the name of God be held in high esteem by the people He has created; that’s what I’m doing when I pray, “hallowed be Your name.” This is my first petition; it sets up the others; it acknowledges God for Who He is; it takes Him seriously. I remind myself of Who it is I’m addressing, that for all of our understandable and appropriate emphasis upon the approachability of God, He is nonetheless “our Father in Heaven”, Whose name must be held in high esteem in my praying, but also in my living. But here’s where “praying for a broken world” comes in:
II. His Kingdom
When we think of “Kingdom”, we think in terms of…well, let’s play the Match Game. “_______ Kingdom” or “Kingdom ______”. Did anybody say (dating myself here) “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”? Remember Marlon Perkins? I remember Jim (no last name given), Marlon’s sidekick. Marlon would take us all around the world and report, but Jim would do the real work. “Let’s watch as Jim sticks his entire head in the mouth of the agitated rhinoceros”.
The kingdom of God does not refer, of course, to some physical location here on earth, but rather it refers to the rule of God in the hearts and lives of His people. We think in terms of a place, like the “Magic Kingdom” or the Kingdom of Tibet, for instance. But the Bible idea is to emphasize rule and reign, not some particular geographical location. And it’s happened that here on earth, in certain scenarios, different people who live as neighbors nonetheless give allegiance to differing authorities. Tim Peck gives one such example:
“In the country of Laos many years ago the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on how to distinguish which residents were under the Laotian government and which residents were under the Vietnamese government. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated their homes with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotian. Those who ate long-grain rice, built their homes on the ground and decorated their homes with Chinese style dragons were considered Vietnamese…though they lived in the same geographical area, their kingdom allegiance was determined by the values and culture they embraced.” And today here in America, where we all profess an allegiance to the United States as is appropriate of citizens, it is nonetheless true that Christ-followers give their allegiance first and foremost to a King Whose Kingdom is not of this world.
This gets us back to the “now, and not yet” aspect of our existence as believers. The kingdom of God came with the coming of Christ, the establishment of His rule/reign; we live as His subjects, as it were. But sin is still in this world, with its effects on us that harm and devastate and kill us. Evil exists, and is fostered by the kingdom ruled over by Satan. When I pray, “Your kingdom come”, I’m acknowledging as well that there is another kingdom active in the affairs of men, and that is the kingdom of Satan, of darkness.
The natural “prayer” of man is “my kingdom come, my will be done on earth.” We are by nature selfish; we want what we want, period. But to pray, “Your Kingdom come” is a cry for two things at the same time: one, the extension of the rule and reign of God’s kingdom in the hearts and lives of people on earth, and two, a request that God’s kingdom be consummated soon.
• It is a prayer of submission to God’s rule in my own life.
• It is a prayer of advancement.
• It is a prayer of anticipation, of holy anxiousness, that the day come soon when all evil will be ended and dealt with, when only righteousness shall remain.
To pray, and to live, “Your kingdom come”, is to be more concerned with the advance of the kingdom of God than with anything else. Just last week, we discussed an offer that has come to us from another church regarding the potential sale of this building; this would mean our relocation. But perhaps more importantly than any other consideration in this whole equation is this question: what option available to us, and to that other church, will serve to most effectively advance the kingdom of God? This causes us to come right back to brass tacks, doesn’t it? Because there are thousands of churches—and I know because I’ve been in some—where for all their pious words, this is not their first concern. There are millions of Christians who do not have the advancement of the kingdom of God as their primary concern. Now are you getting a bit of a grip on why Martin Luther said what he said?
Further, praying “Your kingdom come” doesn’t preclude, but rather demands, cooperation in the effort of bringing His kingdom priorities to pass here and now. God works—but He works through us. We have a role to play; we cooperate in His work of bringing His kingdom to pass here on this earth. Is your concern the advancement of the kingdom?
III. His Cause
When I pray, “Your will be done”, I am acknowledging that what God wants outweighs in my mind what I want from my narrow perspective. There’s nothing wrong with praying that my will and God’s will about a matter converge; there’s everything right with praying that way. My will for my friend Bobby is that he will be fully healed of the terrible cancer that has afflicted him for a year now, and unashamedly I pray that God’s will and mine would perfectly coincide on this point; that’s the way we generally always pray. But sometimes, these two will not coalesce; sometimes, God’s will is not my will, because God’s ways are always higher than my ways, and His thoughts are always higher and deeper than my own. It’s in those times when the rubber really meets the road, doesn’t it? When what you want and what God wants aren’t the same thing, are you more intent on God’s will being done than your own? This prayer acknowledges that I am willing to bend my will to His will, to replace my will with His, and if that’s not what I mean when I pray, “Your will be done”, then I’m praying a lie. See what Luther meant?
It’s instructive to consider the prayer of Jesus, Who did not sin when He prayed, in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if it’s all right with You, let this cup pass from Me.” Nothing wrong with praying that, but the kicker is that His prayer didn’t end there; He added, “not My will, but Yours be done.” Wow…submission to the will of the Father governed the prayer of Jesus the Son.
Notice something else about this prayer. This is a prayer of trust in the sovereign goodness of the Father. When I pray, “Your will be done”, I am placing everything about my life and situation in the hands of Another, an act of trust. This is a prayer that demands faith—and without faith, it’s impossible to please God. And yet I wonder how many “people of faith” really, when it comes down to it, walk more by sight than by faith in God? How about you? What are some things that are taking place in your life right now that are evidences that you have faith in God, some things that can’t be explained except of this basis: “______ is a person who has faith in God”?
God’s will is done perfectly and consistently in Heaven. 100% of the time. His will is never stymied nor frustrated; His will always prevails. And our prayer is that the goings-on on this earth will reflect that. What are we asking?
• First, we should remember that God’s sovereign will, will always be accomplished, no matter what. When we pray, “Your will be done”, we are acknowledging our submission to that sovereign will—whatever it brings. But there’s more to this prayer than our own acknowledgement that we acquiesce to His sovereign will.
• God’s moral will, will not always be accomplished; in fact, it seems sometimes that it very rarely is. What do we mean by God’s “moral will”? Simply this: the Bible gives us a standard for living, the moral code by which God intends people to live. And we don’t, at least not with any consistency; pick up the newspaper! Of course, doing God’s moral will is predicated upon a relationship with Jesus. So with that in mind, what do we pray, then, when we pray, “Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven?” We pray that His sovereign will increasingly be reflected in the moral lives of people here on earth, that they come into relationship with Him and live according to His purpose and plans. God’s moral will is always accomplished in Heaven perfectly; we pray that increasingly, earth becomes a place that reflects that moral will.
There is a day coming, of course, when this will happen perfectly; the kingdom of God will be established here on earth, as earth and Heaven become one, the world will be changed, and the glory of God pre-eminent in everything and in every person.
Applying It
• Can I pray this prayer in real sincerity, having humbled myself to hallow the name of God, to submit to the kingdom reign of God, and to seek to always do the will of God?
One can make a strong argument that a key reason for the anemia of the contemporary American church stems from our unwillingness to live in keeping with this part of the prayer, that we are not living, “Your will be done”, because we’re not serious about holiness in our own lives.
• What characterizes my praying right now?
o Inconsistency, evidencing carelessness about things of God?
o Meaningless repetitions, words I could pray in my sleep?
o Selfishness in that all I pray about are my concerns—and not the will of God?
Jesus didn’t give us words that we should mutter into the air meaninglessly, in rote fashion, or some kind of mantra to be used on certain occasions, bearing little relevance to life; instead, He gives us thought-provoking words which ought to condition our praying on every occasion. His character, His kingdom, and His cause need to be at the forefront of our conversation with Him!
TalkAbout
• What are some things that we know to be the will of God that we ought to be praying more consistently than we do? From your knowledge of Scripture, make a list:
______________________ _____________________
_____________________ _____________________
______________________ _____________________
______________________ _____________________
• How would you explain to someone what the “kingdom of God” means?
