onsider the power of words. Two little words can change your life and many of us have discovered this truth when we said, “I do.” Hopefully we haven’t heard the power of the word pronounced in a court, “guilty as charged”. There are those who have even experienced the power of an oath such as: I, [insert name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
But I want to suggest that one of the most powerful utterances we’ll ever make take place in this prayer that Jesus gave us as a model. Especially in the phrase before us today, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Yet, as powerful as it is it doesn’t seem to have the same affect on us as the others I mentioned. Why is that? Part of the answer lies in not understanding what it is we’re saying. Any of you ever click “I agree” on a software installation without reading the “end user agreement”? Sometimes I think we approach prayer the same way.
Years ago John Fischer was serving as a musician and youth leader at a church in the Bay Area. He, Dr. Ray Stedman and Ron Ritchie were having dinner to celebrate Stedman’s birthday. Ron looked at Ray just after their main course arrived and asked, “Are you ready to go?” John said he was surprised because they had just started eating. Ray then answered. “Yes!” He told the two his children were raised, the church was doing well and that he had a sense of completeness about his life. Fischer suddenly they realized that they weren’t talking about leaving the dinner table. Ron said he wasn’t ready yet. There were things he still wanted to do. When the two of them looked at John who blurted out, “I’m not even willing to entertain the question.”
When I was in seminary Dr. Lewis Smedes would ask, “who wants to go to heaven.” We knew he wasn’t getting a group to go right then but we were hesitant to raise our hands because we knew that the way we would get there was to die. What surprised us was when he asked, “Which of us would like to live in a world where there was no more bigotry? Would we like to be in a place where no child is left behind, where everyone is fed, where drive-by shootings don’t happen and where the world is wholesome, safe and everyone feels good?” Most of us wanted that badly and then Dr. Smedes told us, then you want to go to heaven!
The problem with this dichotomy, this separation between what we want and what we don’t want is seen in a quote by Evelyn Bence who quotes an English visitor as saying, ‘"You Americans are so concerned about being happy," then she goes on to comment that it is, “as if our kingdoms were the focal point of God’s designs rather than God’s kingdom the focal point of ours.” In Jim Carry’s recent hit “Bruce Almighty” you have a reporter who never gets the breaks and blames God for it all. In the clip I’m going to show you his life hits a breaking point. See if you recognize anyone you know in his actions…maybe even us.
I can’t help but thinking of Job when I see this, BTW if you haven’t seen the movie it’s God who is paging him. Consider what it is we’re praying for when we use The Lord’s Prayer. It is seeking His Kingdom and His will and what’s more God’s Kingdom=God’s will. That’s how Jews thought and wrote. It’s called parallelism, you say something and then you say it again in a different way so that people get what you’re trying to tell them.
What is this Kingdom? There are two definitions and both are true. God’s kingdom involves God’s reign. That is his power and right to be the Lord and boss of all of creation. It’s not only his Kingship or reign but also the realm, the place in which God exercises this Lordship. We know from the Bible that eventually that will include a perfect kingdom for all of creation, for a new creation is on the way. But for now it’s exercised within the world mainly through His Body—the Church and the individual lives that have been yielded to God’s control.
A major difference between how the world understands a King and the way that God exercises His Kingdom is that God is closer to us than earthly Kings. Remember the musical Camelot? Genevieve asks in song “What do the simple folk do?” and the answer the king gives is that they whistle, sing and dance and finally they think about what the “royal folk” do. God doesn’t wonder what our life is like. He’s much more like Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper than Camelot.
And because God understands us so well His realm and His reign seems to hit us where we live. If you pray this prayer you are asking for God’s reign to become fully exhibited in your life. If you pray this prayer you’re telling God that your life can become His realm in which He rules. And if you want to seek God’s kingdom then you have to seek God’s will.
GOD’S WILL
Remember Jim Carrey’s character in the clip, “just give me a sign” then the truck pulls out with all the signs. I’m going to say something that is going to hit a nerve with some of you. God’s will isn’t hard to figure out or see. In fact the New Testament gives us some pretty straightforward answers to what God’s will is. The problem is we don’t like them because they get in the way of our own kingdoms. They get in the way of doing what we want. They stop us from being our own lord’s. Let me give you a few of these. You’ll also find them in your insert.
God’s will is that we live pure lives. For Paul writing to the Thessalonians his concern was with sexual purity. God’s will is for marriage to be the place in which sexual intimacy is had. But we can recognize that there are other places where the call to purity impacts us as well such as how we do our jobs, our taxes and our civic duties such as voting (February 3rd folks the ballots are due). We are called to live lives that demonstrate purity to a world in which this is a non-issue.
God’s will involves praying and giving thanks in ALL situations. Listen to how Paul instructs these believers, “pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…” So when you lose a job you give thanks. When things don’t go the way you want them too with a friend you give thanks. When you find that your health has gone south you give thanks. Why?
The easy answer is because God tells us to. The longer answer is perhaps because it’s through these situations that discover changes we have to make in our lives so that we’re living in line with God’s kingdom and not our own. Did you catch the quotation by J.I. Packer before worship, “It needs to be said loud and clear that in the kingdom of God there ain’t no comfort zone and never will be.”
Doing God’s will marks us as Jesus’ sisters and brothers (Mark 3:35). John records Jesus telling us that loving Him meant keeping His [Jesus’] commandments. It’s the same idea. To actively be living so that our lives reflect what God wants to see happen in our world marks us as the real brothers and sisters and mothers of Jesus.
Doing God’s sets us up to receive eternal blessings. Heaven is reserved for those who love Jesus and that means those who keep His commandments. Not keeping His commandments on our terms but on God’s terms. We are to love the Lord our God totally and love our neighbors as ourselves. Those who do this are living within the will of God. If we ask, “who is our neighbor” then it’s a fair guess we’re looking for loopholes not opportunities.
God’s will sets us apart for service. Over and over again Paul tells his readers that he’d been chosen by the will of God. Mark that because Paul isn’t alone. God has called each of us. God’s desire is for every man, woman and child to seek after Him. God’s call goes forth to them and gives the opportunity to respond. To everyone He has called His will is for them, [us] to be serving others.
One last one…God’s will is tested and proven in the lives that have been given over to Him totally. Listen to Romans 12:1-2 again, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.” He’s how Eugene Peterson’s The Message says it, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
When we’ve given our lives to God’s control we then discover how pleasing and perfect God’s will is no matter what situations we’ve gotten ourselves into. You’ll find these scripture verses referenced on your insert. Take one a day, if you’re new to this try at least three of them over the next week, and spend some time asking God what do they mean for you. How do they apply? I’ve included some starting questions below the verses to consider.
Ø Is this a part of God’s will true in my life?
Ø What percent of my life have I dedicated to God’s Kingdom and what percent to my own kingdom?
Ø How would my life change if I made the choice to live for Jesus 110% for the next week?
There will be three responses to this. One will be “I don’t know” if that’s your answer then you may need to ask God to break you open and show you what’s going on inside. Another response is “Things are okay!” If so, praise God, that means that you’re life is being lived in line with how you are seeing God’s will. A few of us may conclude that our lives are “messed up”. That’s a great starting place for making ourselves available to God to change us into the people Jesus wants us to be. Let us pray.
