“GLORY” Matthew 6:13
FBCF – 3/28/21
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Lot of people wanting glory these days.
- Politicians are wanting glory for their accomplishments. Unfortunately, many of the things they are doing & decisions they are making are leading our nation down a dark & dangerous road.
- Athletes are wanting glory for their accomplishments. Sadly, b/c of our sinful distortion of God’s design for genders, male athletes who say they are females are now competing against female athletes & winning in a completely unfair way.
- Musicians are wanting glory for their accomplishments. But the perversion & immorality that is celebrated in much of the secular music industry now is at a level now like we’ve never seen before. It’s showing us just how far away from God our nation is - & how rapidly we continue to decline as move away from Him.
One of the main reasons that our nation is turning farther & farther away from God is b/c we are trying to take the glory away from Him, & He will have nothing of that.
- Isaiah 42:8 - “I am the LORD, that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another, or give My praise to idols” (NIV)
An idol is anything we love more than God, fear more than God, & serve more than God. So many in our nation today are loving, fearing, & serving money, sex, power, & themselves more than God. We’ve placed ourselves higher than God & we are giving glory to ourselves more than God. And God simply will not let that happen. There will be consequences for that. There will be repercussions for that. There will be serious backlash for that.
“Stolen valor” – where someone tries to impersonate a military serviceperson & receive recognition & honor that is not rightly theirs to receive.
- We are guilty of “stolen valor” when it comes to the glory of God. We are striving to receive honor & glory that does not rightly belong to us but belongs ONLY to God. And He will not stand idly by & allow that to happen.
- In Acts 12, King Herod made the mistake of trying to appropriate God’s glory: “Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, ‘This is the voice of a god, not of a man.’ Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, & he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:21-23). In grasping for glory that belongs only to God, Herod was much like Lucifer, who said, just before his fall, “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14)
Kid’s song we used to sing: “Rise & shine & give God the glory…” – Whether we sing that song or not, it’s exactly what we are called to do as we live out our lives as Christ-followers. And it’s what the final words of the Lord’s Prayer direct us to do.
EXPLANATION – Matthew 6:13
Explanation of ending of Lord’s Prayer: The concluding words in Matthew 6:13 are not found in some translations of the Bible. So, does that mean that they shouldn’t be in the Bible & that we shouldn’t pray these words? Of course not.
The reason that it’s in the KJV & the NKJV & either not included or in brackets in other translations such as the NIV, NASB, & the ESV (which I use) is b/c it was not in some older Greek manuscripts that were found after the KJV was written in 1611. Many scholars believe that this doxology was added later to be used in public worship.
But when you read 1 Chronicles 29:11, you see that these words are certainly Biblically true, Scripturally supported, & doctrinally sound. “Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.” What a great way to point to the Lord as we end this prayer! We begin by acknowledging who He is, where He is, how holy He is, & how sovereign He is. And we end by stressing & proclaiming that everything belongs to Him. Love what Tim Keller says about this ending:
- “After descending into our needs, troubles, & limitations, we return to the truth of God’s complete sufficiency. Here our hearts can end w/ ‘tranquil repose’ in the remembrance that nothing can ever snatch away the Kingdom, power, & glory, from our heavenly, loving Father.” (Tim Keller, Prayer, p. 117-118)
APPLICATION – We need to give God the glory that He alone deserves.
GOD IS IN CHARGE – You’ve heard it said about some people that they are “large & in charge.” Truthfully, our heavenly Father is the only one who is truly large & in charge! When we pray, “Thine is the Kingdom,” we are recognizing God’s rule over our lives, over our world, & over all the universe. The right to rule & reign over the universe belongs to God alone. He alone is in charge b/c He alone is King. He is sovereign over us.
- First statement in Apostle’s Creed: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven & earth…”
- Psalm 10:16 – “The Lord is king forever & ever…”
- Psalm 93:1 – “The Lord reigns; He is robed in majesty…”
- Jeremiah 10:10 – “…the Lord is the true God; He is the living God & the everlasting King…”
- Daniel 2:47 – “The king answered & said to Daniel, ‘Truly, your God is God of gods, & Lord of kings…”
When a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, they move from being ruled by the prince of darkness to being ruled by the King of kings. They are no longer in charge of their lives but have yielded the control of the lives to God. They live according to God’s rules, not their rules. They submit to God’s plans & purposes, not their own plans & purposes. When we say “Yes” to Jesus, we are saying that HE is large & in charge of our lives now! We are living in HIS Kingdom now.
- Can you honestly say that God is completely in charge of your life? Do you know for sure that you are in His Kingdom?
GOD IS STRONG – We are obsessed w/ strength & power in so many categories.
- Physical: Obsessed w/ muscles, w/ 6-packs, w/ stamina & endurance
o The world’s strongest man right now is a Ukrainian named Oleksii Novikov. Last year he deadlifted 1,185 lbs. at the world’s strongest man competition.
- US has always prided itself on its military strength, its economic power, its strength of influence on the world scene.
- We like powerful guns, powerful cars & trucks
- We want our kids to be strong physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually & educationally.
- We want our minds to stay strong.
But guess what? ALL of those categories will grow weaker at some point.
- Somebody else will be the world’s strongest man one day
- Our minds will grow weaker.
- Kingdoms & nations rise & fall, & we see evidence all around us that our nation is growing weaker all the time.
No god will ever be stronger or more powerful than our God – “Thine is the power.” He will never grow weak in any way. HIS is the power!
Greek word for “power” in the NT: dunamis – Get our word “dynamite” – explosive power, energetic, demonstrative power
o Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…”
Displays of this power causes things to change.
- When we encounter an explosion from a stick of dynamite, change happens.
- When we encounter the power of God, change happens.
- We are saved by the power – dunamis – of the Gospel (Acts 1:16).
- He is the God who is “…who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His POWER [dunamis] that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20)
- The same power – dunamis – that raised Jesus from the grave lives in you (Romans 8:11).
GOD IS WORTHY OF WORSHIP – We are a week away from Easter, but let’s talk about Christmas! Remember shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night. Angel showed up, scared them to death, & told them that Jesus had been born. Then the entire night sky exploded w/ thousands of angels proclaiming this message: “Glory to God in the highest…”
- The greatest event that had ever happened on earth happened that night!
- The greatest Savior that the world has ever known was born that night!
- The greatest news that world has ever heard was proclaimed that night!
- And the response of the angels was to WORSHIP GOD & GIVE HIM GLORY!
And worship must be our response to our Father in heaven who loves us so much that He sent His one & only, one-of-a-kind Son to come into the world that night in Bethlehem on a rescue mission – to rescue us from our lostness, our sinfulness, our hopelessness. He alone is worthy of worship!
- “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, & Holy Ghost.”
GOD IS ETERNAL – His Kingdom is eternal. His power is eternal. His glory is eternal. All b/c HE is eternal. He has no beginning & no end. He is the Great I Am.
- Jude 25 – “…to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!” (NIV)
- Sam Storms: “There are no term limits on His reign. He has always been King and He always will be King. There is no death that threatens the perpetuity of His sovereign authority. There is no usurping of power by a lesser rival to His throne. There are no coups, no revolutions (at least, none that succeed). There is no threat of impeachment. He is a King who rules eternally.” (https://gracequotes.org/topic/god-eternality/)
“SO BE IT” – “Amen” – That last word is pregnant w/ meaning. Not just an add-on, but a statement of faith & commitment. It means “so be it.” It means “it is & it shall be so.”
Here it is a word of commitment. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer & close by saying “Amen”, we are committing ourselves to do our part for the things we’ve prayed about. I want to invite you to say “Amen” after each of these statements if they reflect the position of your heart:
- We are going to strive to know more about “Our Father, who art in heaven.” AMEN!
- We are going to worship the one whose name is “hallowed” & holy. AMEN!
- We are going to strive to know & do His will “on earth as it is in heaven.” AMEN!
- We are going to look to Him for everything we need to live a life that honors & glorifies Him. AMEN!
- We are going to regularly confess our sins & turn away from them, & strive to reconcile w/ anyone w/ whom we have a broken relationship. AMEN!
- We are going to work hard at avoiding temptations & thank God when He delivers us from them. AMEN!
- In short: We are going to live for the Lord! AMEN!
