Your Kingdom Come to Earth

Our theme for 2024 is “Possessing the Land”

We are in a summer series on The Lord’s Prayer.

I wanted to take some time to slow down, to focus on a shorter passage of scripture and to really mediate on it.

The Lord’s Prayer is a well known prayer taught by Jesus to His disciples.

Many of us can say it by heart.

We can say it without thinking - and that’s the problem - we say it without thinking.

In this series we want to move through the prayer slowly and repeatedly.

We want to, not just speak the prayer, but let it speak to us.

Last week we talked about how God is holy.

There are many ways that we declare God’s attributes.

And when we behold God as He is, we begin to reflect Him.

Just as Jesus manifested (made God visible)

We are the way that most people are going to see and recognize God.

What would happen if everybody did that?

What would the world be like if everyone was beholding and reflecting God’s nature and character?

That would make this world a pretty awesome place!

It would be like - heaven on earth!

And that is the point of these three lines of the Lord’s prayer.

We want our world to become what God designed it to be from the beginning.

Your Kingdom Come

Matthew 4:17 ESV

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

What is the Kingdom of God?

It is the state in which God reigns supreme.

Where does God reign supreme?

In heaven? - Yes, certainly in heaven, God reigns as king and supreme ruler of the universe.

What about on earth - does God reign supreme?

He did when he created the world and when mankind walked in fellowship with God.

But when mankind sinned at the fall there was an interruption in the sovereign plan and purpose of God.

Surely God still has the power of supreme ruler, but if you use that power to crush the opposition you also prevent reconciliation.

God wanted reconciliation with mankind, so he took another route - that of redemption.

God made a covenant with Israel to tech us how to be in relationship with God.

And then He came and became one of us, Jesus, to buy us back to Himself.

The Kingdom is the restoration of God’s rule and authority.

So when Jesus came and said, Repent, because God’s supreme reign is here

he meant, “recognize that you have been serving the wrong master”

Turn back to God because the time for restoration is now.

The tide is turning and you are on the wrong side of the battle.

Luke 17:20–21 ESV

20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

When we say, “your Kingdom come” where are we looking to see that happen?

It the Kingdom a religious system?

Christians used to think so - when there was generally only one Christian church.

The Catholic church used to teach and act like the church was synonymous with the Kingdom.

But truthfully, there has never been just one church.

I have been doing a lot of reading about the early church as part of my studies and there have always been Christian groups and movements who were outside of the Catholic church - even before the Catholic/Orthodox split.

Some of them, like the Donatists of the fourth and fifth centuries, often outnumbered the Catholics.

And then there is the question of the purity of the church:

What do we do when the church becomes corrupted by its own power and influence?

People leave the church and create new forms of church, new denominations.

Actually, I believe the age of church denominations is coming to a close.

In the 1990’s C. Peter Wagner observed that the largest and fastest group of churches in the US are non-denominational churches.

He predicted that the future of the church would be Apostolic Networks - relational networks clustered around apostolic leaders - like the Hopewell Network.

Now we see that most of the denominations that are left are literally crumbling-

churches are literally paying millions of dollars to get out of their denominations!

If your idea of the Kingdom is centered around your church or denominational structure - it doesn’t look good right now!

Is the Kingdom a political system?

Before you laugh at me, just hear me out.

Some people think that when we speak about America as a Christian Nation that we are saying just that - equating America with the Kingdom of God.

Now that is not what I think or what I believe people are saying, but if you know your history there is a precedent for that.

There was a time when the monarchies of Europe where connected to the church.

And even today many of these countries still have state sponsored churches.

And the implication is that when the government acts, it does so on behalf of the church, or on behalf of God, or at least with His blessing.

That is not what we mean when we use the term “Christian nation”, but that is what many people fear.

If you listen to what they are saying, they believe that if Christians are put in charge of the government, they will force everyone to become Christian.

I know a lot of patriotic Christians and I don’t know anyone who thinks that would be a good idea or who has that goal in mind.

And that is why it is difficult to have a sane conversation about Christian Nationalism because that term represents different ideas to different people.

So what is the Kingdom if it is not about power and control, either through the church or through the government?

The Kingdom is the redemption of mankind and our place in His eternal plan.

What if the Kingdom is about people - people individually surrendered to God and His authority and working together.

People who each listen to and obey God’s voice but who refuse to control and dominate each other.

People who have different ideas and opinion -

even different cultural norms -

but we all have the same goal - to glorify God!

When Karie and I were at a member care training for WEC last year. They talked about how WEC as an organization which started in the UK is now world-wide with sending offices literally all over the world.

We had people there from the UK. The couple heading up the training was from New Zealand. Our hosts and a number of participants were from Korea. there was also a delegation from Switzerland and the Netherlands.

We talked about how cultural differences play out on teams. Like a team with Korean leaders with strong cultural norms having members from Switzerland where they are very independent thinkers - how does that work?

The answer is that they seek to promote a Kingdom culture. That is we honor each other as members of Christ’s worldwide body. And we also seek to learn and understand the differences that we have. We don’t expect to be all the same, but we learn to respect and appreciate the differences because we each bring something to the body of Christ.

SO when there are cultural differences on a team or in the organization the answer is to seek the mind of Christ. How would Christ want us to honor him by honoring each other?

Why do I use this illustration? Because we are all people created in God’s image.

And God has a wild imagination - he created us with so many differences and perspectives - just like the diversity of His creation.

The point then is to appreciate those differences while recognizing the image of God in each other that we all bear.

I may disagree with you about your beliefs, your choices or your preferences -

but to the degree that I see the nature and character of God in you - I can support that!

To the degree that I see God’s goodness in you - his care and compassion - I can believe that you really want to do good.

I may think that you are going about it the wrong way - but at least we have a common goal.

And Jesus Christ needs to be at the center of everything - because that is how God is accomplishing His purpose:

Ephesians 1:9–10 ESV

9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

You have heard me say it before- that’s God’s plan

To bring everything under the Lordship of Jesus Christ

It means putting our pride aside, and submitting to each other out of obedience to Christ.

I can find common ground with anyone who calls Jesus “Lord”.

We may disagree about everything else, but if we agree on that, we can find a way to sort it out.

Your Will Be Done

How do you know what Gods will is for your life?

The answer is going to be different for each person

But the “big question” is the same.

Am I walking in obedience to Christ?

Does my life glorify God?

Other than that.there are a million different ways to do God’s will.

It is a matter of aligning yourself to God’s will.

How do you do that?

Your desires become God’s desire....

John 14:14 ESV

14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

If somebody asks me - how do I know God’s will for my life? - my first question is - Tell me about yourself?

What do you WANT to do?

What are you good at?

What are the unique gifts, passions and abilities that God gave you?

The way that God made you should tell you something about who he created you to be and the specific tasks he has for you.

I used to think that if I wanted to do something that God probably called me to do the opposite. Like if I don’t want to go to Africa, God will probably call me to Africa. The truth is, I always thought going to Africa would be an awesome adventure. I’m so glad God agreed and gave us the opportunity to go a few years ago and again this year.

The principle is that when it comes to God’s will, he doesn’t just dictate his will, but he gives us meaningful participation in how, when or even whether or not we do the things that we do.

God even tells us to ask him for what we want.

Why would he tell us to ask if what we want doesn’t matter?

Does that mean that we get everything we want if we just ask God?

No, that would be too easy, right?

Of course we don’t get everything we want, but we get everything that we want because he wants it.

Your desires become God’s desire… (lets finish it.)

…when God’s desires become your desire.

1 John 3:21–22 ESV

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

God says, go ahead and ask for the desires of your heart… God delights in giving his children what they want.

But there is another side to it.

Our desires are shaped by knowing and following his heart.

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Some people read that verse and hear, “God wants to give me everything I want!”

Look at the first part of the verse.

Why do you want what you want?

Because you delight yourself in the Lord.

In other words, His desires have become what you want.

You really want to see his rule and authority established on earth as it is in heaven.

You really want to see Jesus exalted and magnified as Lord of all, uniting heaven and earth as one.

You really want to see His body in all of its diversity functioning as one with Christ as the head -each part supplementing the others.

When you have God’s heart for the world, go ahead and ask - you can’t go wrong!

And if God doesn’t give you what you want, instead of sulking about it, you will simply assume that it’s because he has something better for you.

It’s only after you have spent time getting to know the heart of God that you are even capable of that thought...

Most of us just think, “what could be better than getting what I want?

On Earth as in Heaven

What if everything we want our of life and everything that we strive for is just a drop in the bucket?

I know, we pray some really big and noble prayers that aren’t answered.

I prayed for my spouse to be healed from cancer. I know God can do that. I have seen other people healed of cancer, even late stage cancer. We had prayer meetings. We anointed her with oil. We had people coming every day to our house to pray for her. Even some big name people with nationally recognized healing ministry. I don’t think there was nay more we could have done.

After she passed, I learned a lot from that experience.

First of all, she may have died, but she is not dead - she is more alive than ever before in the presence of God.

And my perspective changed, because I was thinking that it had to be God’s will to heal her, but I was only thinking in the context of this life.

This life is not all that there is.

This life and her suffering and my grief is just a drop in the bucket compared to all eternity and the life that we have with God.

I began to think a lot about heaven.

Nothing makes you long for heaven like knowing someone who is actually there.

I began to read book about heaven, people’s visions of heaven and stories of people who died and came back to life.

You know that life doesn’t end when you go to heaven?

You’re purpose and your destiny don’t end when you go to heaven, I think it’s just the beginning.

The child in the womb probably thinks that the womb is where they are meant to be.

Unless, of course their parents are talking to them about, ‘We can’t wait to see you, hold you, etc...”

Can the child even comprehend what it is to be seen and held?

No, they just kick back at the voice or the touch… do it again!

But the truth is, those nine months you spend in your mothers womb, though they are formative, you won’t even remember it in comparison to your entire lifetime.

What is this world is just a womb for eternity?

What if this life is really meant to form us and shape us for something more?

1 Corinthians 15:35–37 ESV

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

Paul says that what we are now is just a seed form of what we are becoming.

In other words...

Reality is so much bigger than we are.

1 Corinthians 15:42–43 ESV

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

Think about the relationship between a seed and what grows from it.

The tree is not contained within the acorn, but all of the potential, the information on how to become a tree is all in there.

All of the information on who you would become, your DNA was all there from the moment of conception.

Now project that same difference into eternity.

Who you are now is a mere indication of who you are becoming.

Take everything you know times a million.

Every ability you have times a million.

Take every sensory perception you have times a million.

Take every inclination of your heart times a million.

Oh, now you see why God is so interested in the condition of your heart!

We are so preoccupied with our own lives and things that are not eternally important.

What are the things that last into eternity?

Your relationship with God.

Your relationships with other people, those you bring with you into eternity.

And the character that you develop (which will factor a million times over).

Do you think that God is up therein heaven doing nothing expect watching us live our lives on earth like a big soap opera?

God is actively busy creating and restoring what he has already created.

Psalm 103 gives us some insight into what is going on in the heavens.

Psalm 103:19–22 ESV

19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Heaven is a busy place, like your life times a million.

We keep trying to get God to go along with our plans, but we have no idea what all he is up to!

We are like children playing in the sandbox and thinking that what we are doing is actually building roads.

Its not building roads - it’s a sandbox!

But its childhood imagination which is preparing us for an education which can prepare us to get experience which will eventually have us building roads.

Meanwhile all the child is thinking is, “ I want to do in my sandbox what daddy does in real life.”

As in heaven… let it be done on earth.

Let me begin to do in my earthly sandbox what you have destined for me to do in eternity.

OK. I know I can’t actually do what you do, but let me begin to experience it.

Let me imagine that I am doing it until I fell like I can actually do it.

Let me participate with you God, in some small way, in what you are doing, both here and in eternity.

If you have a kid who plays with trucks in the sandbox, please don’t tell them its just a sandbox.

First of all, they already know that.

A secondly, because that is not what God does with us.

He takes our “work” seriously, when we take his work seriously.

We find our rightful place, when we give God His rightful place.

There was an emperor at the time of the exile who thought that he had conquered the world.

He started out as a military commander and won one of the most famous battles in ancient history - the battle of Carchemish which brought Egypt under Babylonian control.

At that point it was only a matter of time until Jerusalem would fall as well, they were caught in the middle.

He was also interested in technology and the arts as well. He is credited with building the hanging gardens - one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It was essentially a ziggurat with an intricate irrigation system, pumping water to the top and letting it flow down over what was essentially a man-made mountain covered in exotic foliage.

Nebuchadnezzer essentially created an artificial Eden.

After forty years of an impressive resume, God thought that Nebuchadnezzer was just so full of himself that he might become dangerous to himself and other.

“It’s time to let him know that he’s just playing in a sandbox.”

“This isn’t really Eden, not even close - the rest of the world needs to know the truth.”

So God takes fro Nebuchadnezzer the one thing that he had never learned to control, his own mind.

His imagination began to run away to the point that he didn’t even know what was real anymore.

The guy who was at the top of the food chain began to eat grass like an animal.

I doubt if God had it do much to incapacitate him, all he had to do was show him just a bit of what real reality is like and his mind was blown.

This went on for seven years, Daniel the prophet was working in the royal palace and witnessed it all.

I guess Daniel and the others had to run the government and cover for him.

Remember, Daniel honored God, and God elevated him to the highest offices in the land.

So you have Daniel who honored God, serving a king who does not honor God.

But Daniel does not presume to know what that is all about, jut living and serving to give God glory.

As it is in heaven, let it be on earth.

Nebuchadnezzer comes to his senses.

At some moment he must have realized that he is not the center of the universe and then the rest of it all came together.

It suddenly makes sense - as in heaven, let it be on earth.

And then he makes this declaration.

Daniel 4:34–35 ESV

34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Nebuchadnezzer suddenly realized that this is all just a sandbox, but that it still matters.

He’s just a son, learning to do his father’s business.

God is not interested in conquering, the world,

but he is interested in restoring Eden, not a fake Eden, but the real Eden.

The place where we see God as he is and participate in his activity on earth.

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen