1 It’s All Yours
1 Chronicles 29:11, Matthew 6:9-13
2 [Slide of Lord’s Prayer]
OK, where’s the ending? You know the part that talks about the kingdom and the power and the glory - Where is that? If you have one of those King James Bibles, don’t spoil the surprise.
So where is it? Maybe your Bible has a footnote says something like, “some Greek translations do not contain this phrase.”
The early versions of the Lord’s prayer, that’s found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, don’t have the ending that so many of us use today to finish the Lord’s Prayer. So where does it come from, then?
Well, there’s a very old Christian writing called “The Didache,” I’m talking like it was written in the year 100. It’s an extra-biblical text (it’s not in the Bible) that’s also called “The Teaching of the 12 Apostles,” and it talks about Christian ethics, and practices like baptism and communion and it talks about Church organization, too. And like the early manuscripts of the books of the Bible, it has also been discovered and preserved through the years.
And the Lord’s prayer is also included in it, in its entirety. And, in the Didache, you will find the last part of the Lord’s Prayer that says, "for yours is the power and the glory forever."
So, from a purely historical point of view, we can be sure that the ending was added very early – even though the words themselves do not appear to be from the mouth of Jesus.
3 And what’s interesting, is that this ending has Old Testament roots. From 1 Chronicles 29:11:
“Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.”
What’s amazing about this verse is the context. King David is still alive but old – and he’s about to hand over the kingdom to Solomon, his son. David has been collecting materials to build the temple and he is now encouraging the leaders of the nation to follow his example. Here’s the whole story:
4 29 Then King David turned to the entire assembly and said, “My son Solomon, whom God has clearly chosen as the next king of Israel, is still young and inexperienced. The work ahead of him is enormous, for the Temple he will build is not for mere mortals—it is for the LORD God himself! 5 2 Using every resource at my command, I have gathered as much as I could for building the Temple of my God. Now there is enough gold, silver, bronze, iron, and wood, as well as great quantities of onyx, other precious stones, costly jewels, and all kinds of fine stone and marble.
6 3 “And now, because of my devotion to the Temple of my God, I am giving all of my own private treasures of gold and silver to help in the construction. This is in addition to the building materials I have already collected for his holy Temple. 4 I am donating more than 112 tons of gold[a] from Ophir and 262 tons of refined silver[b] to be used for overlaying the walls of the buildings 5 and for the other gold and silver work to be done by the craftsmen. Now then, who will follow my example and give offerings to the LORD today?”
7 6 Then the family leaders, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the generals and captains of the army,[c] and the king’s administrative officers all gave willingly. 7 For the construction of the Temple of God, they gave about 188 tons of gold,[d] 10,000 gold coins,[e] 375 tons of silver,[f] 675 tons of bronze,[g] and 3,750 tons of iron.[h] 8 8 They also contributed numerous precious stones, which were deposited in the treasury of the house of the LORD under the care of Jehiel, a descendant of Gershon. 9 The people rejoiced over the offerings, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD, and King David was filled with joy.
David’s Prayer of Praise
9 10 Then David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly:
“O LORD, the God of our ancestor Israel,[i] may you be praised forever and ever! 11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. 10 We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.
13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name!
1 Chronicles 29:1-13.
And here’s the bottom line: It is all about worshipping God. It is all about reliance on God. And the addition of this ending to the Lord’s Prayer reminds us why prayer works.
11 This prayer works because the focus is centered on God, and not on ourselves or anywhere else. The Lord’s prayer may be relatively short but Jesus packs a lot into it.
Jesus opens with picturing God as someone who is full of grace and wants an inclusive eternal relationship with us. (Our Father in heaven) And then he prays that the Father’s Name will always be honored and praised (hallowed by your name).
Then we ask God to lead us and to keep His church strong (your kingdom come, your will be done). We ask God to help us obey His will.
We ask God to take care of all our physical needs (Give us today our daily bread). We ask God to forgive us our sins and to grant us the grace to forgive others (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors).
And then we ask God to grant us victory over temptation and evil (lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil).
Most of those petitions are about us. And that tells me that it’s ok to talk with God about what’s important to us, because that’s what Jesus taught us to do. And we know that ultimately, it’s not all about us – it’s all about God.
We start the prayer by honoring God. And we finish the prayer by honoring God. And what’s great is that we are in there right in the middle of it; we’re part of the story. But God is the beginning and the end and if we start with God and end with God – that’s what will get us through anything.
An unnamed author wrote this short story: (called DEATH.)
“Each morning as I fixed our family's breakfast I would see them (our kitchen windows met across the way). A woman, gentle-faced and sweet laying out the morning things and he, sitting at the table, would take the family Bible out smoothing its pages—for forty years, or more they plied this self-same ritual starting the day together…and with God.
And then one night quickly death called, and she was gone. The next morning, I watched as tears stood in my eyes an old man his shoulders hunched against the years take down his cup and saucer, smooth the family Bible out sitting at the table alone...and with God.”
If God bookends our life – if we start with him and end with him, we can make it through anything because, “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory,” and we’re a part of it all.
12 And this prayer works because we recognize that God heard us. In prayer, a relationship is established with God. We are talking to the
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise. (Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, by Walter C. Smith)
When we pray like Jesus taught us, we are talking to a God who loves us dearly. He is our Father who knit us together and blew His own breath into our lungs so that we could enjoy the wonderful creation He made.
He is also the Father who watched with sadness, but with a special plan in mind, as we pitifully hid in the bushes and experienced the consequences of our first sin.
This is the Father who called a select people His very own – a nation called Israel. They were not called because they were the most powerful, or smart, or numerous. But only because of His love for them.
This same heavenly Father did what was necessary to provide a Savior – One who would come to every nation and be the cornerstone of their lives.
As we pray that prayer that Jesus taught us, we see our special place in His heart.
We pray to a Father who has come to give us a complete answer to all of life. He is the One who has the power and deserves all the glory. He is the One who rules. He is the One who makes things happen. And He is listening to us.
He can hear the unuttered words…the unexpressed thoughts and the silent pleas. He knows the deepest desires of our hearts. And when we come to the end of the model prayer of Jesus we know we’ve been heard.
13 I think this prayer works, too, because it gives us confidence that God has the power to do anything.
When we lack confidence, it begins to make us question ourselves, our beliefs, and our abilities.
If a student begins an exam but has trouble with a few of the beginning questions, it can mess them up for the rest of the exam, even though they know the answers.
It happens as you get older. You can’t always do what you want to do because your mind says you’re 18 years old but your back and knees say your pushing 60! And because you lack confidence, you pull away from situations that, ordinarily, you wouldn’t think twice about.
Confidence is important when it comes to our prayer life, too. God wants us to have confidence in our prayers … in fact He wants us to be confident all through life’s ups and downs.
14 Here’s what Hebrews (ch. 4) says about it: “15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Just stop for a second and think about the context of 1 Chronicles 29. David has been in the process of gathering all the materials that are going to be required to build the temple – a temple that would be built by Solomon. But he needs so much more. He doesn’t want to leave the task to his young son because he’s so inexperienced. But David also knows the people and he confidently asks them for help.
And they give because they know it all comes from God in the first place. They give because they trust God to provide. And they give because they are confident in God and in the King. The people have seen God at work before and they respond to His grace.
“Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory.” It’s an expression of confidence in the one who has ordered our lives and who will continue to order our lives so that we may have hope and confidence and trust.
15 And I believe this prayer works because we are making an ongoing confession of faith every time we pray it. Through recognizing the kingdom, power and glory of God we are making a significant statement of faith.
The Greek word for kingdom means kingship. So by faith we are saying to the Father, “Kingship belongs to You”. He is our King, the King of the universe who controls it all.
He is our King, the King of grace who is willing to save us. He is our King, who has the power to draw us close and hold us so that nothing can take us out of the kingdom. He is a king who is building a kingdom that will last and we know that we are a part of it.
So with praise and adoration we say, “Yours is the power.” To him belongs the might and strength and force which cannot be resisted or overthrown.
The word for power in this phrase is the word from which our word dynamite is derived. It is an explosive action which can cause a great effect far beyond its size.
God’s power is unlimited which means all things are possible and nothing is impossible with God. By faith we trust the power He uses to make the impossible happen in our lives.
And in recognition of His grace we say, “Yours is the glory.” God is full of radiance, splendor and majesty – the One from whom comes every good and perfect gift.
By ending the prayer in this way, we constantly tell God of our desire to confess our faith in Him. And faith in Him is all that we need. And that’s a message we sometimes desperately need to hear.
16 If you’re into the sport of horse racing, you’re familiar with Darren Boadman. Darren Beadman is a world-class jockey. In 2007 at age 41 he was the youngest jockey ever to be inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. At the height of his success, the horses he rode in one year earned over $9.6 million dollars.
However, even with all of his accomplishments, he knew that God was stirring in his heart a message that there is something better out there and it created such discontent, that he had to do something about it.
In an interview with The 7.30 Report, which is an Australian current affairs program, he said, "I can’t deny the power of God. I’ve seen the workings of God, the miracles. I’ve seen the blessings -- the word of God explains it all."
And in 1997 he announced to the world that he retired from racing to pursue a calling as a pastor. For two years he studied at a bible college in Sydney. Then in 2000, to some people’s surprise he returned to racing as a jockey. But he was a different person, a different jockey. No longer was his life only about racing horses.
Horse racing became a way to involve himself in ministry. And he sees his return to racing as God calling him back to horse racing, so others in the sport can share in the wonderful life God offers.
And he continues ministry not as a pastor but as a jockey who is a Christian. His church is the track where he invites people to participate in “on course” bible studies and seek pastoral help when they need it.
He’s making a difference in his corner of the world because he chose to bookend his life with God and God is blessing is work.
17 You know, even though this sentence may not have been attached to the original thoughts –it is a very fitting conclusion that has been in the hearts of believers for over 2000 years. It’s a punctuation mark that gives all the praise and focus back to God.
And in a grand finale of words, we are reminded of the very nature of God. He is a listening God who gives us great confidence. He is a Father in whom we can have ultimate trust. And this prayer is a prayer that works. It helps us keep things in perspective. Why? For Yours, (not mine) God, is the kingdom. I lay my plans at your feet.
Yours, not mine, is the power, I come to you for strength.
And yours, not mine is the glory. I give you all the credit.
Forever. Amen.
This last phrase is the ultimate way to magnify God and his character and his umbrella of grace that’s positioned securely over all of us.
Prayer
Lord, help us to begin and end with you today and every day. Help us to have hands that are willing to work at Kingdom business and hearts that are open to receiving direction. Help us to come to you for guidance, strength, provision and protection first, before looking for it in any other direction. As weI face tough choices and hard situations, help us to remember just how much you love us. Help us remember that we are Your children and Your representatives to the world around us. And help us live today in a way that brings honor to Your holy name. That’s the example Jesus gave us his in prayer and in his life. We honor and praise him now in our time of Communion.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
