9-22-19 Sermon Notes
“The Lord’s Prayer – Part 3” Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4
Last week, we spent our time looking at the praise portion of the Lord’s Prayer. This week, we will spend our time looking at the petition part of the prayer.
Introduction
Astronaut James Erwin is one of but a few men to walk on the moon. As he stood upon the lunar landscape and looked up at the earth, he prayed for the first time in his life. He thought about the strife among nations, poverty, hunger, and rampant evil; and he thought to himself: “What is more important than man walking on the moon is that God should walk on earth.” This is the desire we express when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come.”
Read Matthew 6:9-15
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’”
And now the verses from Luke 11
1 “One day Jesus praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
Message
The King and His present-and-future Kingdom
The prophet Isaiah offers a wealth of prophecy about the coming Messiah-He reveals that one day God’s Son will establish His Kingdom: “The government will rest on His shoulders…His ever-expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this!” (Isaiah 9:6-7). The Messiah will establish His authority.
The word “kingdom” in the original language means “rule” or “reign”. God’s Kingdom is unique-it is not a human kingdom. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but the reign of God will prevail and last forever.
Pilate asked Jesus what kind of king He was; Jesus didn’t fit Pilate’s perception; He didn’t conform to the popular notion of a political ruler. Jesus responded, saying, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” He told His followers, “the Kingdom of God is within you.” In a spiritual sense, we are living now in the Kingdom. Both John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries announcing that the Kingdom of God had come-it is here. When we pray “Thy Kingdom come” we are asking God to advance and expand that Kingdom in the hearts of people, and we are anticipating the day when that Kingdom literally comes when Jesus returns. It is a Kingdom that is both present and future-it is here and now, and will one day come in fullness.
This second petition of the Lord’s prayer is a multi-faceted request…
“Thy Kingdom come” is an evangelistic prayer. We are part of the answer to this, our own prayer. For we have a role in bringing God’s Kingdom to completeness. “Thy Kingdom come” is a call for God to increase His Kingdom, to convert the hearts of unbelievers, to draw people to a saving knowledge of Christ.
God can answer this prayer through us. We can be the means for bringing people into His Kingdom as we share the Good News that Jesus saves.
“Thy Kingdom come” is an ethical prayer. When John the Baptist announced that “the Kingdom of God was at hand” he called people to repent. If we want to see God’s Kingdom evident in our lives, then we will want to live accordingly. We are confronted with a choice to live according to Christian virtue or to follow the values of our culture. Paul describes “the Kingdom of God…as righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” By asking for the Kingdom, we’re asking God to make us holy. If the Kingdom is within us, this means we’re children of the King. We can’t pray “Thy Kingdom come” if we’re living like orphans. We can’t honestly pray for His rule over others unless we want Him to rule us. “Thy Kingdom come” means we are under the Lordship of Christ.
“Thy Kingdom come” is a prophetic prayer. Believers see farther on their knees than philosophers on their tiptoes. History is headed to a climax, a Kingdom-conclusion. We place our trust in divine providence. One day Jesus will return. No one knows exactly how or when this will play out. One thing we can know for sure-God is in control of history. In the meantime, we’re to be watchful and spiritually prepared, and occupied with fulfilling the Great Commission to disciple all nations. This petition is much like the final, concluding words of the Bible: “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
“Thy Kingdom come” is a protest prayer. We are opposing every worldview that is contrary to God. This kind of prayer a “refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal.” We see this kind of prayer in what’s called the imprecatory psalms, protest songs, and prayers that complain about the evil corruption in the world. God welcomes our complaints. Why don’t we pray more? We’re not angry enough. God wants us to process our strong feelings about life through prayer
“Thy Kingdom come” is also a warfare prayer, a battle cry. How come everyone is not bowing before the hallowed Name of God? Because there is another kingdom, the kingdom of darkness. People are enticed and enslaved by sin-this is the very essence of the human predicament. Our desire as Christians is for God to be honored and revered, but we realize that there is enemy opposition to God’s Kingdom. We are engaged in spiritual warfare and we’re praying for victory. Are we prayer warriors? Paul writes, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm” (Ephesians 6:12). God’s wrath is certain and His Truth is marching on!
“Thy Kingdom come” is a submissive prayer. The function of prayer is not to inform God of our plans but to call on Him to fulfill His plans-it’s not “my kingdom come.” Some people are involved in personal “kingdom building.” Proper prayer is that God’s kingdom be extended. How concerned are we with God’s plans? How concerned are we with the rule of God in our lives? Have we surrendered our plans and priorities to God? Are we trusting Him with our plans, or are we more concerned that God’s plans might interfere with ours? Jesus tells us to “seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
“Thy Kingdom come” is a comforting prayer. Anxiety should be a reminder for us to pray, to “cast our cares” on God. When we realize that our sovereign King has things in control, that life has a purpose, that there is a Kingdom apart from our secular culture, we breathe a sigh of relief. Life may seem chaotic, unpredictable, and harsh, but we belong to a Kingdom that will overcome the world.
“Thy Kingdom come” is an identifying prayer. As Christians, we hold dual citizenship. Paul states, “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). We are governed by human law, but also by Biblical truth. We are loyal to our nation, but we recognize that we belong to God’s Kingdom. Nations may rise and fall, but we are part of a holy, perfect Kingdom that will last forever,
“Thy Kingdom come” is a realistic prayer. Some people view faith and prayer as some sort of emotional escape from reality. Karl Marx called religion the “opiate of the masses”. Yet when we pray, it is not to escape reality, but to find it. The problem is, what we see around us is not true reality. We are journeying to the Kingdom, our true home, and this world is but a shadow of the reality that awaits us. Faith is not a leap into the dark, but a leap into the light. We belong to God’s Kingdom, not the “shadowlands” of this world.
The fact that we begin in the Lord’s Prayer with hallowing God’s Name, then asking for His Kingdom rule in our lives, and then for His will to be accomplished, shows that this is hardly a self-centered prayer. Yet we are prone to approach God with a self-serving attitude that says: “My will be done”. The worst thing God could do at such a time might be to give us precisely what we want. Thankfully, God’s answers are wiser than our prayers. Prayer is not a tool for getting. It is a means of becoming what God has intended for us. It’s fine to let God know our needs, but then we trust Him to decide how to respond. The words “be done” could be translated “let it be.” When we pray, do we understand that God has a will for our lives? We should seek God’s will daily. He will always give us enough light to take the next step. It’s not easy to pray this way. We are used to having a vote in everything; we’re not used to surrendering our plans to God’s purpose.
Aladdan rubbed a lamp and a genie appeared, granting him three unconditional wishes. Sometimes we view God as a genie. God doesn’t always give us what we want. He does give us what we need. Our problem is, we can’t figure out how certain things can possibly be for our benefit-we get sick, lose our job, we have to move, we have trouble with a relationship that brings us a point where we begin to think God is absent. How can this possibly be His will? We have to remind ourselves that His ways and thoughts are above ours. Praying “Thy will be done” means we don’t expect God to change His plans to accommodate our wishes.
Since God is going to prevail, and since He already knows our needs, why bother to pray? We come to God in prayer, not to try and change His plans, but to embrace them. Prayer is an act of yielding to the divine plan. God transforms us through prayer, even though He may not change our circumstances. The goal of prayer is not so much tangible answers but a deepening life of dependency upon God.
God does not promise that we will like all that He brings into our lives. Our obedience is more important than our happiness, yet in God’s will, we will find joy if we choose to. We can be content no matter what happens.
Persistence in prayer keeps us from self-reliance. We have a right to refuse to accept certain situations in the world. We even have the right to question God as long as we’re willing to accept the outcome. It’s been said that a lack of persistence in prayer will lead us to strike a truce with things that are wrong. When we pray for God’s will to be done, we are “praying against the fallen state of the world; we’re rebelling against the evil of the world and the things that go against God and His word.
It’s not so easy praying “Thy will be done” when someone we know is sick. We want nothing less than a full recovery. Yet if we are truly people of faith, we understand that God even has a purpose for illness. It is wiser to pray “for the best possible outcome” because we don’t know what is best for us.
When we pray “Give us this day our daily bread” we’re showing that we’re depending on God a day at a time. Jesus urges us, “Don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing….Do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:31-34).
Have you ever not known where your next meal was coming from? We usually have more than enough food for ourselves, so this request may seem remote. We can have any kind of food we wish. In our abundance, we forget that God is the Source of our provision-that without God we would not prosper at all. He brings the sun and the rain, He causes the crops to grow; He gives us intelligence and ability to earn bread. When was the last time we were thankful for such simple gifts? We shouldn’t take the ordinary blessings of life for granted.
God loves to give us the everyday things we need. Sometimes we don’t want to “bother” God and so we tend to go to Him only for the extraordinary, urgent needs of life.
Some people are trying to make their own daily bread. They figure that if they make enough money they’ll be happy. We can spend our whole lives striving for material prosperity and miss what life is really all about.
The Jewish Ark of the Covenant contained three items: the Ten Commandments – the actual stone tablets given to Moses, Aaron’s rod-a walking stick that miraculously budded, and a pot of manna – the bread God provided each morning during the long, wilderness wandering. It’s interesting that God made the condition that the people would gather the manna and consume it that day. If they tried to meet tomorrow’s needs on their own by putting some in storage, it would rot, except the day before the Sabbath rest. God was making it necessary for them to rely on Him day-by-day. Later God also provided quail. In Deuteronomy we’re told, “He did this to humble you…so you would never think that it was your own strength and energy that made you prosperous” (Deuteronomy 8:17).
Reliance upon God doesn’t mean laziness! Paul writes to slothful saints: “We hear that some among you are living idle lives, refusing to work…in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command them-settle down and get to work. Earn the bread you eat. And I say to the rest of you, never get tired of doing what is right” (Genesis 3:19).
One day when Jesus was praying, His disciples urged Him to stop and have something to eat. He replied, “I have bread to eat that you don’t know about.” Physical nourishment is only part of what this petition of the Lord’s Prayer is about. People need hope along with lunch! God has established the church to serve what no one else can cook up-the Bread of Life. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; those who eat this bread will live forever” (John 6:35). To those who are spiritually starved God invites to come and eat without cost. He says “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55). God offers food for the soul. If we “hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). The Communion bread we eat represents the spiritual nourishment that Jesus purchased on the cross. When we come to Jesus we never hunger again.
Why do some people not come to Jesus? They’re not hungry. They are too comfortable and self-satisfied. They don’t hunger for what He offers. They are starving spiritually without knowing it. There is a spiritual famine in our land. We come to God’s house to be nourished. Comfortable people don’t go to church. Uncomfortable, hungry people go to church to find strength for the day, and to thank God for the blessings they have. They greatly appreciate the blessings of life, small and large, because they know what it’s like to be uncomfortable.
Concluding Remarks and Application
We obtain this Kingdom by trusting Christ as our King, by receiving Him as our Lord. Then whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer we indicate our desire for the dominion of God and the success of the Gospel. We have a Kingdom worth praying for! One day, yet future, the forces of evil will be finally routed by the host of heaven. In the meantime, we pray, “Thy Kingdom come.”
In I John we’re told that we can approach God “with confidence…that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). God doesn’t offer us a blank check. Our prayers must be in harmony with His will. When we seek God’s will, we need to ask God to place in us a desire to want what He wants us to want-then when we pray, we will be praying intelligently, according to His will and we will expect results. We should pray with confidence, knowing that God causes all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28). Prayer releases the power of God into our lives. We can live expectantly, knowing God’s purpose will come to pass, “as in heaven, so on earth.”
Relying on God to provide for our daily needs certainly makes life a whole lot less stressful. That does not mean of course that we just sit back and let God do His thing without us putting the ‘hand to the plow.’