What I hope is that all of us will get from this series of sermons is a new awareness and appreciation for the Lord’s Prayer. I hope it just won’t be a recitation of a bunch of words. Most of us can repeat the Lords’ Prayer without even thinking of what we are saying. We can almost repeat it in our sleep. But I hope when you repeat the Lord’s Prayer you will have a deeper understanding of what you are praying. When we form that circle around the church and repeat the Lord’s Prayer at the end of the altar time, I hope you will have an appreciation and a better understanding of what we are saying. But now we come to another phrase in the Lord’s Prayer: Thy will be done.
Let us try to gain an understanding of what we are praying for here. There are some deep ramifications about praying for God’s will to be done. What does it really mean? How can we pray it? First of all, we are praying that God will accomplish His will on earth and in our lives. The word will refers to God’s plan, God’s purpose, God’s desire, or God’s favor. We are praying for action on the part of God. We remember what God has done in the past. We pray for a repeat performance from God. We pray for a continual act of love and kindness from God. The people of Israel always remembered what God had done for them. He had delivered them from oppression in Egypt. He had caused them to cross over the Red Sea on dry ground. He had drowned Pharoah’s army in the sea. He had fed the people with manna every day from heaven. He had led them by a cloud each day and a pillar of fire by night. He finally had brought them into the promised land. God’s will was shown by his activity on the part of his people. God’s will or desire even extended to other nations. It was God’s intention or will that the Hebrews be a blessing to the entire world.
Likewise, we pray for God’s will to be operative in our lives. We remember how God has been good to us in the past. We remember how God brought us from a mighty long way. We remember how he has been a very present help in the time of trouble. We remember how God has guided our footsteps and held our hands. We remember how God has been better to us than we have been to ourselves. Remembering what God has done for us in the past, we pray that God may continue doing what he has already done. It’s almost like asking the question, “What have you done for me lately?” What has God done for us lately? When we pray thy will be done, we are praying for God to continue doing what he has already done. What has God done for us lately? He woke us up this morning and started us on our way. What has he done for us lately? He keeps on being a rock in a weary land and shelter in the time of storm. What has he done for us lately? He keeps on watching over us all day long and all night long. What has he done for us lately? He keeps on making a way out of no way. When we pray thy will be done, we know it is God’s desire and will to do these things. We know he will always do these things because he is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. We know his promises will never fail. We pray for his will to be done because it is God’s will to bless us every day. We pray for his will to be done because it is his will to do what he has promised to do. We pray like that because Jesus taught us to pray, Thy will be done.
But there is another side to this prayer. We pray that we may do God’s will in our lives. We pray that we may be obedient to God’s will. We pray that we may do what God would have us to do. As we call on God to be active in continuing to do his will, God calls us to be about doing his will. Jesus said that those who do my father’s will are my brother, my mother, and my sister. We are called to do God’s will in our lives. We know what God’s will is for us from what we read in God’s word. Jesus Christ came to do his Father’s will. Jesus said that those who do the will of his father in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven. We also see how God’s will and our will come together. God desires us to love our neighbors as ourselves, so we respond by loving our neighbors. God’s will is for us to love him with all our hearts and minds, so we respond by loving him with our hearts and minds. God’s will is for us to love one another in the church, so we respond by loving our brothers and sisters in the church. God’s desire or will is for us to believe in him so we would not perish but have everlasting life, so we respond by believing and accepting Christ that we may have everlasting life.
We could go on and on with many things God desires or wills for us to do and to which we respond in accordance with his will. Now we have to understand that we are not able to do God’s will in our own strength. God must give us the strength and the willpower to do his will. All of our strength comes from him. We can do nothing without God’s help and we can do all things with God’s help. We have heard that saying that God helps those who help themselves. But the truth is that we must ask for God’s help before we can help ourselves. God helps those who can’t help themselves. But when we get help from God we can help ourselves and others as well. We must do everything in accordance with God’s will. The Bible says in 1 John that if we ask anything in accordance with God’s will, he will answer our requests. God wants us to do his will. We cannot please God unless we do his will. So if we are doing something we know is not God’s will we are not pleasing God. People are doing many things today which are not in God’s will according to the Bible. But we have a choice to make. Do we follow the world’s standards or do we obey God’s word? Do we want to be correct or up to date in the sight of the world, or do we want to be right in God’s sight? We have a choice to make.
Actually this is a dangerous prayer to pray. Do we really want to do God’s will? There are many things that are in God’s will which we are not doing. God’s will is for us to live holy, separated lives. If we are living in sin and know it, we are not doing God’s will. Some changes have to be made. If God’s will is for us to love one another and we have hostility in our hearts for others, some changes are going to have to be made. If God’s will is for us to be kind to one another, and we go around talking about I can’t stand him or her, some changes are going to have to be made. If God’s will is for us to bring our tithes into the storehouse and give as he has prospered us, and we are still putting in the same thing in the offering plate as we did 10 or 15 years ago, some changes are going to have to be made.
This is actually a dangerous prayer if we are not serious about doing God’s will. This is a dangerous prayer became it may demand some changes, some hard changes in our lives. We can’t pray thy will be done unless we are willing to do God’s will. This can be a dangerous prayer. Now if you are still with me and if you haven’t fallen asleep yet, I want to shift gears and focus on some difficult questions. I want you to do some theological thinking with me. I hope you are up to it. Some of us leave our minds at home and come to church only in the spirit and emotions. But we have to bring everything to church with us, our minds, our thinking, as well as our spirits and emotions. Get involved every now and then with some serious thinking about what we believe and why we believe it.
Now, this may cause you to get out of your comfort zone, but what is the relationship to God’s will and our wills. We have touched on this lightly a few minutes ago. But now we want to get into it a little deeper. Do some thinking with me. God has a will and we have our wills. We are not puppets dangling on a string that God can manipulate. We are not pieces on a checkerboard that God can move as he wills. How does our will work with God’s will?
Take Judas in the Bible as an example. We all remember Judas, the disciple who betrayed Christ. Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him. It was part of the plan of God. Could Judas not have betrayed Christ? Judas was responsible for what he did. He couldn’t say that he was not responsible because it was God’s plan or will for him to betray Christ. God did not approve of what he did, but God allowed him to do it. We sometimes speak of the permissive will of God. God permits some things to happen with which he does not agree. Judas was used by God to betray Jesus. What about Judas’ will. Could Judas have changed his mind and said he was not going to betray Christ? Judas did what he did out of his own free will. God did not cause him to do it, although it was in the plan of God. But Judas did what he did out of his own free will.
Another way to look at is that God knew ahead of time what Judas would do.
Let us take another example. God desires that everyone is saved. God desires for all to come to repentance and receive his forgiveness for sins and everlasting life. God is not like some preachers I have heard. Some of them seem happy to proclaim that some people are going to hell. They will say, “You’re going to hell.” as if they are happy they are going there. God is not like that. There is also some indication in the Bible that God knows who is going to accept Christ and who is not. Some are going to be saved and some are not. God knows everything. He knows who is going to respond and who is not going to respond. But each person has to make her or his decision. But here’s another catch. Nobody can be saved except through faith in Christ. And the very faith we have to receive Christ comes from God. The Bible says that by grace we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God lest anyone should boast. The grace and faith needed to be saved comes as a gift from God. But why does God give it to some and not to others? If God desires for all to be saved why doesn’t he give that gift of faith to everybody? And then the gift of faith that God gives can be refused. Here is a question. Can those who are not saved say that it was not their fault? Can they say it was God’s fault because I was not chosen by God? But our free will comes into play here. That person who did not come to Christ was exercising his or her free will. He or she chose not to accept God and his gift of salvation. The gift is available to everybody. Some chose to accept it and others do not. God wills for everyone to be saved, but some will not be saved. Some will not be saved, some will not receive the gift. God knows who is going to receive his gift and who will not. But the choice is up to each individual person. God will not force anybody to accept it. God’s sovereign will and our free will. How do they work together?
Here’s another question for you to chew upon. Can we change God’s mind? Let’s look at another example from the Bible. God said that He would bless and prosper Solomon if he did God’s will. But Solomon did not walk in God’s way. Solomon lost his blessing by sinning and going against God’s way. Can we cause God to change his mind? Some would say yes. But others would say no. they would say that God knew what Solomon would do anyway. So he did not change his mind. Can our prayers change God’s mind? Or does God know what he is going to do anyway, regardless of our prayers?
Here’s another case. We all know the story of Jonah. God told Jonah to go to Ninevah because he was going to destroy it if the people did not repent of their sin. Jonah finally went to Ninevah and preached to the people. The people repented by fasting and prayer, and God did not destroy the city. God said he was going to destroy the city, but he didn’t. Did God change his mind? Could it be that God knows what is going to happen in the future? God knows what we are going to do, but he does not force us to do it.
Why do I bring these questions up? I bring them up to show us that we can’t put God in a box. No one can know the mind of God. There are many things we just don’t know about God and his will. There is a mystery about God that we humans can never understand. If we did we would know as much as God does. I refuse to put God in a box and claim that I have all the answers. We get into trouble when we try to figure God out. Harold Camping made a laughing stock of himself when he said the world was going to end back in May. Some preachers think they know everything.
Let them tell it, they know what God is going to do it and when he is going to do it. They think they have God all figured out. They think they have all the answers. They put God in a box and tell him what he can do and can’t do. I don’t know all the answers. I don’t know how God’s will works with our free wills. I don’t know if God changes his mind or not or what causes him to change his mind. I refuse to play God on my watch and say I have everything figured out. Some people want easy answers. They want everything laid out for them. I say let God be God. There are a lot of things we don’t know about God, and probably never will know. And if God told us we still wouldn’t understand. We don’t have the mind of God. God has told us all we need to know. If we do the simple things he has told us that will be enough. We need to know how awesome and wise God is. We ought to appreciate him more. If we lived a thousand years we could not know all about God. His ways are past finding out. God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. We need to stop trying to figure God out and trust Him to do what is right and just. We can trust God to do what is right. He knows what is best. He made the heavens and the earth and he doesn’t need us to tell him what to do and to try and figure him out.
The last thing I want to say about Thy will be done is this. We must submit to the will of God. Look back at the very familiar story of the 3 Hebrew boys and the fiery furnace. Most of us remember the story. King Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree that everyone in the nation was to fall down and worship his statue. But the three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to a false idol. They were brought before the king and commanded to bow down to the idol or to be cast into a fiery furnace. What a scary moment that must have been for the boys. They didn’t know how things were going to turn out. For all they knew, they might be burned alive in the flames. But they believed that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace. God did deliver them. But look at what they said to the king before going to the furnace. Our God is able to deliver us from the furnace, and we believe that he will, but if not, let it be known to you that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image.
Look at those 3 words. But if not, we are still not going to worship that idol. Have you ever been to a but if not moment? Have you experienced a but if not time in your life? You have prayed long and hard for a loved one to be healed, but he or she died anyway. You have to get to the But if not time before you can really understand this prayer. We have to submit to God’s will. You submit yourself to God and say, “But if not.” God, I want you to answer this prayer. I want this illness not to be unto death. I want my mother, my wife, my child to get out of this sick bed and be set free from this illness. But then you have to say,” But if not, thy will be done.” You haven’t dealt with this prayer until you get to the But if not. But if not, thy will be done. But if not I know everything is going to work out for my good. But if not, I’m going to trust him anyhow. I prayed for the healing of two wives, actually, 3 died, but when I got to the but if not, everything worked out.
When I got to but if not, God stepped in. He blessed me with another beautiful wife, a church to serve, and a lovely house to live in. God has something good for you when you get to the But if not part. But if not, thy will be done. When you get to the But if not, God will spring into action and work it out for you. He may not give you what you prayed for but it will be according to his will. But you have to get to But if not first. Submit to his will and he will work it out for good. Trust him and say But if not, thy will be done. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane got to the But if not part of his prayer. He asked God to take away the cup of death, the cup of suffering, the cup of separation from God. Then he said, Nevertheless, thy will be done
. He prayed his own prayer, Thy will be done. He prayed the prayer he taught us to pray. He prayed that this cup would pass from him but if not, thy will be done. He prayed that the agony, the suffering, the separation pass from him. But if not, thy will be done. He died on the cross anyhow. He did go to the cross to suffer and die for the sins of the world. I’m glad he said, But if not. If he hadn’t said but if not, I would still be in my sins. If he hadn’t said but if not, I would be condemned to death. If he hadn’t said but if not, I would not have received my sight. If he hadn’t said but if not, I would not have seen the light. If he hadn’t said but if not, the burden of my heart would not have been rolled away. If he had not said but if not, I would not be happy all day. If he had not said but if not, I could not say death where is thy sting. If he had not said but if not, I could not say grave where is thy victory. If he had not said but if not, I would not have a home in bright mansions above. But if not, But if not, Thy will be done.
