Title: Conformation
Text: Matt 6:10 (Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.)
FCF: Conformity to God’s will is our task in prayer.
SO:
Intro:
Why do we pray?
On one level the answer is pretty simple. We pray, because something isn’t right, and we want it fixed. We want a better world, and we want God to make it for us. We’re like Lucy in complaining in that Peanuts comic strip. “The world better be fixed by the time I’m 18! You adults messed it up, and you have to fix it!”
Now, I tend to see the world as broken mainly when it affects me. And, coincidentally, I tend to pray most often when the world isn’t being right to me, and I want the world to go my way. But in general, we pray because something isn’t right, and we want it fixed. We know it should be better.
So, that being the case, I think it’s a fair question to ask – why is it, that the first request that we make in the Lord’s Prayer isn’t for the new Ferrari, it isn’t that our enemies get nuked, and it isn’t even that we could be “better people?”
No, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the first thing we actually ask God for is something rather odd. The first thing we pray is that God’s Will would prevail.
Indeed, it’s such an important request that we actually pray for the same thing twice. First, we pray that his kingdom would advance. Then we pray that his will would be done.
But what is the advancement of his kingdom, except a space in which his will is done? Whether here on earth, or there in heaven, God’s will is what we’re asking God to do.
Have you ever wondered then, why would need to pray that God would do what God is going to do? It’s not like he needs us to do what he wants done.
This morning, I just want to look at just this one sentence of the Lord’s Prayer. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.”
I want to look at it because in asking for God’s will to be done, we’re actually making a bold statement about God, and what our relationship to him is. Indeed, when we pray that his kingdom would come, and that his will would be done, on earth as it is in heaven, we are making a declaration about the Kingdom we want and the world we want to live in. While it may not sound like it’s for our benefit, it ends up being as personal as it gets.
What does it mean to be in the Kingdom?
Jesus talks about the kingdom a lot. You have to be like little child to enter the kingdom. How many parables start out, “the Kingdom of God is like? ...” The Kingdom of God – it’s like a mustard seed. It’s like a widow who lost a coin. It’s like a shepherd who has 99 sheep, but loses one. It’s like a King who prepared a feast.
And when Pilate asks Jesus if he is a king, do you remember his answer? My Kingdom is not of this world.
Kingdoms, of course, are spaces in which a King is sovereign. A boy named Alexander became king in 333 BC. He had started out the prince of a Podunk little province in northern Greece. As his father was dying, Phillip of Macedonia told his son, “Macedonia is too small for you. I fear the world is too small for you.” And so, just ten years later, Alexander the Great was the king over most of the known world.
In Egypt, Alexandria is named after him. In Pakistan, the town of Bucephalous is named after his horse. Even as far west as Afghanistan – the town of Khandar that’s been in the news– it comes from “Ale-xandhar.” He made quite a space for himself.
But kingdoms are as much about will as they are about territory. As great as his army was, Alexander probably marched through less than 5% of his territory. He only fought battles in a few towns. What he did was simple. He’d march into a province and give the rulers a choice.
They could join him, give him troops and tribute, and in return join an economic powerhouse that would fatten their treasuries and enrich the social and intellectual lives of their citizens. When Alexander’s armies swept through the world, they brought a common language with them.
Indeed, do you know where the word “barbarian” comes from? After a while, there were only two types of people – those who knew Greek, and those who just said “bar-bar-bar.” Barbarian! In Russia, I guess they must have had a different accent because they said “Tar-Tar-Tar” The Tartars. Membership in the kingdom meant you could communicate. It meant trade. It meant knowledge. And, it meant power.
Or, you could resist and Alexander’s armies would kill you in the end. Pretty simple choice, right? Alexander wasn’t the world’s greatest soldier – he was the world’s greatest diplomat and salesman. He fought as much by will as he did by weapon.
It was said that right before he died in 323, “he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.” In other words, he was sad, because there was nobody left to on whom to impose his will.
Alexander died was he was only 33 years old. Actually, it’s kind of sad to think that by the time Alexander was my age, he’d conquered the world, and been dead for a few months.
In the Bible, Jesus was probably only about 33 when he wept for Jerusalem. And why did he weep? Was it because he knew they were going to crucify him, reject the very king they had worshipped for years? No. He wept because they were “like sheep without a Shepard.”
He knew that if only they would do his will, people could live together without fighting. People would be fed, and there would be enough. If only they could see and hear and taste how beautiful the will of his father could be. The sheer aimlessness and useless of their lives outside of his kingdom saddened him because he knew they could be so much more.
Prayer is membership in the Kingdom
So, how is then that we would join this kingdom? How could we lead this life of purpose? It’s a simple submission of will – of my will to His.
Aldus Huxley once wrote: “64,000 repetitions makes a truth.” Well, I don’t know if it necessarily makes a truth, but it does make a change.
On the most basic level, if I say, “Oh I’m worthless” enough, you know how I’ll feel. But when I remember that “I’m a child of God,” it’s amazing how differently I’m going to act.
How I feel, of course, isn’t the issue. There’s enough in this world that will raise me up and tear me down, that how I feel isn’t going to last more than 15 minutes anyway.
But, I do know this. When I pray “Thy will be done,” it makes me want to see God’s will be done. I want to see the world made whole. I want to see justice for the oppressed. I want to see mercy for people like me. And wanting is the first step toward doing. When ultimately I want God’s kingdom – when I want his will to advance, I am in a place where God can use me to do just that.
Sincere prayer that wants to see hurricane victims made whole is going to do something. It’s going to compel you to action. Sincere prayer that the hungry will be fed will move you to stand out in front of a Safeway, no matter what the temperature. Is it your sincere prayer that you could know God better? That alone will help you to get out of the house on Sunday morning, regardless of whether you like the sermon or would prefer your sleep.
We tend to think of diets as a battle of will. But, dieticians will tell you that if it’s just a battle of willpower, you’ve already lost. Just saying, “I won’t; I won’t; I won’t” will maybe buy you 15 minutes. It’s a losing strategy. It says, “If I just don’t do X, Everything will be fine.” If I just keep from sinning for this period of time, maybe I’ll get into the kingdom! No! It doesn’t work that way!
So, what are you supposed to do when you are tempted to scarf down that bag of Doritos? You are supposed to think about what it will be like to be thin. Think about the victorious body, and be that body! And what does that sound like? “That good-looking body come, that body’s will be done! On the exercise mat as it is in the kitchen.”
And so it is with the Christian life. This prayer is as much a declaration of victory as it is a demand on the Almighty.
Even Jesus realized the simple power of this declaration. When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he could have prayed all sorts of things. He could have prayed for rescue. He could have prayed for a lighter load. But what did he pray? “Nevertheless Lord, not my will but Thine be done.”
Here was Jesus himself – praying to his own Father – saying, “Not my will but Thine be done.” He was about ready to pay the ultimate price for the people in his power. And who is he thinking about? His daddy. And that’s what gets him through.
As we grow in the kingdom, we too will face a death of sorts. Our sins are going to die, and it’s going to be painful. What is going to get us through? “Not my will but Thine be done.”
So, Join the Kingdom Already!
We know that Jesus’ kingdom – that the place where his will is done is a good thing, but how often do we “welcome” it like the towns in the path of an Alexander. Do we dread the changes it is going to make, or do we eagerly anticipate the benefits we know it will bring?
In Sunday School, we just finished reading The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. He says this: “In the end, there are only two kinds of people. There are those who will say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom, in the end, God must say, ‘OK, your will be done.’”
It’s such a powerful but simple choice. Is it your will, or God’s? How you answer that question is going to determine not only how your life will be lived now, but also for eternity.
So, this morning I have a simple question to ask you. Whose will do you want?
When we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” is it real? Or is it just words? Is it a resounding call for victory? Is it a plea that I would be changed to conform to his will, that I would become a part of a more perfect planet? Do I really want things to change? Am I willing to be a part of his kingdom?
Or is it simply a seething resentment that God seems so far off? Is it annoyance with the arrogance of a God who thinks he can make demands of me and my time and my will. Why is it me that has to change?
After all, why do you pray?
One day, there will be no question of God’s will being done. It will have been done. On that day, will you be a part of that kingdom? It’s very easy to join. All you need to say is this: “Lord, not my will, but Thine be done.”
Would you pray with me?
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #401
“Sweet Hour of Prayer”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
*Offertory Hymn #335
“Standing on the Promises”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Scripture
Matthew 6:10
Sermon
“Conformation”
Invitation Hymn #265
“God of Grace and God of Glory”
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
You covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.
You do not have, because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your own pleasure.
Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not be conformed to this world,
But be transformed by the renewing of your minds,
So that you may discern what is the will of God—
What is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
-James 4:1-4; Romans 12:1-3; James 4:7-8
