Teach us how to pray part 4

If you have a bible open it up to Matthew 6. I have titled the message this morning. Teach us how to pray part 4. Pray with me.

So we are again looking at the Lord’s prayer building upon what we have learned. Let me just recap that for you this morning. We are to direct our prayers to God and not man. We pray to God with sincerity with the right heart, we pray by getting away from the world secretly in our prayer closets. We pray specifically asking God in prayer our biggest and even smallest of needs, and we pray to God who is our heavenly Father who we can go to like a Daughter or a Son who goes to their own good father, who is in heaven, and we pray with this adoration of who he is and what he has done. And when we pray we pray that we live out the kingdom come in this present age, while praying Satan’s kingdom is destroyed, and the gospel reaches the far end’s of every corner of this earth, until the fulness of his kingdom comes.

Now today we are focusing on a new part of this prayer, and I want you to walk away this morning as the main idea knowing this..

When we pray we are to pray the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

should be easy enough to remember as its part of verse 10 that we are looking at today.

Let us read together again this great prayer the Lord has for us.

Matthew 6:9–15 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “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 this day 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 evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The section of this prayer we are looking at today is one that we often pray, but deep down in our hearts is it our own desire that the will of God be done on earth as it is on heaven. Because if it is our desire than its going to be one of those prayers that changes your very outlook on everybit of your life. Because if this is a focus in our lives then our very own prayers will be different.

Listen to this. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Luther called this a fearful prayer.” Another man said if some people really realized what they were praying, their words would stick in their throats. Considering the petitions gravity, it is of the utmost importance that we understand what we are praying, then pray it with the utmost sincerity.

The sincerity part should resonate with you, because I have it as a point to focus on the fact that Jesus wants us to be specific in our very own prayers, and it does not end here. To pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven is a truly powerful prayer.

Listen to one more thing before I give you the first point.. Its going to again resonate with many of you. It important because submitting our wills to God is one of our greatest needs, though none of us finds it easy.

We all like to be "captains of our souls" and often even retake the command we once humbly and wisely relinquished.

Perhaps as children we were strong-willed, and our parents never succeeded in bringing us into line. Submitting to anyone's will is foreign to us.

Whether or not that has been our experience, Jesus' words apply to us! Jesus tells us here that the ideal prayer should contain a section in which we bow before God saying, "Let your will be done in my life, in this situation, at this time, just as it is in Heaven itself?"

Do we truly pray this? Church Family.. And if we do, what do we mean? What is Jesus asking us to pray for when he tells us to pray, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"?

Those are questions we have to ask ourselves.

Few points to help us pray this way, first is this..

When we pray we are to pray the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven because it is an antidote for our sinful hearts.

Many quotes I read this week stirred my heart to think about this point and I want to interact them . J.I. Packer says, "Here more clearly than anywhere the purpose of prayer becomes plain: not to make God do my will, but to bring my will into line with his.

If you have read your bible you know the cause of all this pain all this sin is because Adam and everyone to follow him outside of Christ sinned, by saying God I know what your will is but I want to go against it. And truly praying your will be done is taking our own desires out of equation and saying God I want to walk in your will, because its best for me, it helps my sinful heart.

There is example of someone who walked outside of God’s will that I read about this week. His name was Julian and Julian was the Roman Emperor who tried to turn the clock back. He tried to reverse the decision of Constantine that Christianity should be the religion of the Empire, and he tried to reintroduce the worship and the service and the ceremonies of the ancient gods. In the end he was mortally wounded in battle in the east. The historians tell how, when he lay bleeding to death, he took a handful of his blood and tossed it in the air, saying: "You have conquered, O man of Galilee!"

It is better to pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and live out that will than to be like old Julian who did not live out his will and it was to late.

Another man adds to what has already been said with another power quote he says… To pray "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is a dangerous prayer. It means the exaltation ( one of our core missional beliefs here of the sovereign will of God and the death of your sovereign will It means that you willingly submit your life to be molded and shaped by another.

That is in part of what repentance looks like turning away putting to death something that does not honor God, and then running to Christ letting him mold and shape you. Conform you to his image. This prayer elevates God and his will, and de-elevates you and your will. This is our problem in the flesh we want to fulfill our own will and not God’s. John 3:30 helps us with this prayer. Praying God’s will has a lasting effect on walk with Christ and our fight with sin.

John 3:30 ESV

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Listen to this quote.

Paul Tripp says.. Praying this prayer You will experience the messiness, discomfort, and difficulty of God's refining grace. It means surrendering the center of your universe to the One who alone deserves to be there. It means loving God above all else and your neighbor as yourself. It means experiencing the freedom that can only be found when God breaks your bondage to you! It means finally living for the one glory that is truly glorious, the glory of God.

( This part is where I got my point for you ) You see, the prayer that Christ taught us to pray is the antidote to sin. Since sin starts with the heart, it is only when my heart desires God's will more than it desires my will, that I’ll live within the moral, gospel boundaries that God has set for me. And it is only God's grace that can produce this kind of heart.

"Thy Kingdom come," words of surrender, words of protection, and words of grace that can only be prayed by those who've been delivered by the Redeemer from the kingdom that always leads to destruction and death, the kingdom of self.

Think about what Tripp said its quite powerful. Because praying your will be done to God is truly saying God your will and your will alone is be above all else.

Thats the Christian life in a nutshell. God is God I am not so let me live as though he has called me to live and put aside all that I should put aside to not only follow him, but to pray your will be done.

And not only that what a truth bomb when he says.. the prayer that Christ taught us to pray is the antidote to sin. Since sin starts with the heart, it is only when my heart desires God's will more than it desires my will, that I’ll live within the moral, gospel boundaries that God has set for me. And it is only God's grace that can produce this kind of heart.

There is a battle that we all have to what is right and to do what is wrong to do, and it every choice we make should be what is God’s will what is God’s will, and how do I conform my life to it so I live within his will, and outside of my own will.

Even when I talk to people about sinful issues it all comes down to this, do I want to truly live out God’s will in my life, and if I do its going to remove all the sin that I have in my life. Maybe the biggest problem for you and I is we have not been praying your will be done, and truly seeking to live out that will in our own lives.

When we pray your will be done we pray that because in part its the antidote for our sinful hearts.

Secondly take note of this..

When we pray we are to pray the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven while keeping our eyes on Jesus.

This point makes sense if you have been following along with us studying this book, Jesus is always the best example of how to live and keeping our eyes on him helps us see the will of God. .

Christ always and I mean always lived out the will of God. Let me show this from the scriptures..

John 4:34 ESV

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Looking at Jesus he shows us that obedience is in fact part of living out God’s will. In fact he refers to as his own food.

Jesus helps us understand that even greater.

John 5:30 ESV

30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

He says something very close to that to that in John 6:38

John 6:38 ESV

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Remember who Jesus is God, second person of the trinity where was he prior to the incarnation his coming in the flesh? Heaven, and he came to bring heaven down to us by doing the will of God, we see the will of God being lived out by Jesus because was obedient and we represent heaven when we walk in faithful obedience, and we should pray earnestly that we should do that.

Jesus also said this in Matthew 26:39

Matthew 26:39 ESV

39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus shows us this real emotion prior to going to the cross where is talking to the Father knowing God can do all things, and Jesus asks him for this cup to be removed from him, what is he talking about he is talking about his death on the cross, and the wrath of God that he was about to face yet Jesus knows he was sent to die on the cross, it was ordained willed for Jesus Christ to always go to the cross, and he says not what I will but what you will.

Jesus shows us that even in lifes biggest moments God’s will should always be on our minds.

He goes on to say Matthew 26:42

Matthew 26:42 ESV

42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Its good that happened that fulfilled the will of God because a few chapters before Jesus says this.

Matthew 18:14 ESV

14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Him following the will of God perfectly ultimately dying on the cross and rising from the dead is the reason we are saved. And Jesus and his finished work on the cross show us the reality of what it looks like to follow the will of God even to the point of death. Keeping our eyes on Jesus praying that kind of dangerous prayer as so many people say help show us how to pray and how to live out the prayer your will be done in your own lives.

Next thing I want you to see is this.

When we pray we are to pray the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven with total devotion.

So where have we been in this sermon one When we pray we are to pray the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven because it is an antidote for our sinful hearts. When we pray we are to pray the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven while keeping our eyes on Jesus.

So if we know this prayer will help take care of our sin problem because of Jesus then should we not pray this prayer with total devotion. Wanting Heaven to be manifested on earth here now and ultimately with the new heaven and new earth.

I think if we are honest a-lot of us know the will of God because this book shows us the will of God, and if you don’t read it you will never know what it is. This book shows us that God’s will is going to take place now on earth, as it is in heaven.

So that means we should be totally devoted to praying it and also living it out.

Reading this week one man commented on this text saying this… We are to emulate ( Which means match or surpass ) our Lord's example. It is possible for men and women, despite their imperfections, to experience the working out of God's will. We are to pray that this will happen not only in regard to salvation, but so righteousness and justice will be brought about in this fallen world.

"Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." This petition is stridently upward. "Father, your will (and no other) be done just as it is in heaven." This is a command and as such demands passionate expression. Pray it with all your heart. It should be a heavenly type of prayer because thats the kind of prayer that Jesus is asking us to make.

Even thinking about the quote from Luther saying this is a terrifying prayer to pray. Because as I have already alluded to quite a bit there is not prayer like this, because this prayer is a prayer that fights your very own flesh, it fights the natural response of your own heart. And its a prayer that is built off the truths we have learned already in this sermon on the mount. Your will be done is a prayer that cannot be taken lightly. Its a prayer we must personally pray. So that heavenly living and thinking extends into the earth.

And what makes this prayer so dangerous to us is its a prayer that might wreck your entire world thats why you have to be totally devoted to pray it. When you earnestly pray to God your will be done…

it might call you to Agape Baptist Church, it might call you to move to a new city or India, or China or share the gospel with a total stranger or pray this radical prayer. or wherever it but might have you go through even unimaginable things for the glory of God.

We have to learn how to pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven now. I even said this last week in some sort of way but the reality of heaven of a new kingdom helps me live the Christian life, and the reality of praying your will be done as it is in heaven should shape your very prayer life now, because the scripture teaches us not only will God’s will be done on earth now as it is in heaven but one day God’s will will be done on earth the same way it is in heaven.

Even though you will fail time and time again your devotion to the Lord and your prayer life to the Lord should be that of one who truly believes and lives out the will of God.

Listen to this story and ill wrap the message this morning.. The last thing we must keep in mind if we want to grow in obedience is that in his will we find our greatest joy. Elisabeth Elliot once stayed in the farmhouse of a Welsh shepherd and his family high in the mountains of North Wales. She stood watching one misty summer morning as the shepherd on horseback herded the sheep with the aid of a champion Scottish collie named Mack. In her own words:

Mack . .. was in his glory. He came of a long line of working dogs, and he had sheep in his blood. This was what he was made for; this was what he had been trained to do. It was a marvelous thing to see him circling to the right, circling to the left, barking, crouching, racing along, herding a stray sheep here, nipping at a stubborn one there, his eyes always glued to the sheep, his ears listening for the tiny metal whistle from his master that I couldn't hear.*

That day Mack assisted his master who had arranged to dip his struggling sheep. Mack was magnificent. As the sheep would attempt to escape the tub, he would snarl and snap at their faces to force them back in. Mack's every move in the pen or out in the pasture was perfect. He seemed as good as the shepherd himself. Amazed, Elliot asked the shepherd's wife if the sheep had any idea what was happening. "Not a clue!" was the answer. "And how about Mack?" The answer was unforgettable: "The dog doesn't understand the pat-tern—only obedience." Elisabeth Elliot reflected:

I saw two creatures who were in the fullest sense "in their glory." A man who had given his life to sheep, who loved them and loved his dog. And a dog whose trust in that man was absolute, whose obedience was instant and unconditional, and whose very meat and drink was to do the will of his master. "I delight to do thy will," was what Mack said, "Yea, thy law is within my heart."

To experience the glory of God's will for us means absolute trust. It means the will to do His will, and it means joy.'

She was right. Never are we greater, never do we know greater joy, than when we do God's will.

Here we have an advantage over Mack the collie, for we can understand something of the pattern and something of our Shepherd-Father: He is the Creator, the One who set the stars in their trajectories and put the shutter on the lizards' eyes. He is the God who in the Person of Jesus Christ created the universe with his own hands and then allowed those hands to be nailed to the cross. And we can trust him. Our greatest glory is to pray and live the prayer,

"your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." What joy and glory come from absolute and unconditional obedience! Only he whose will is bound to God's is what he ought to be.

To glibly parrot this prayer does nothing, but to pray it sincerely is revolutionary. When we truly pray, "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," we pray for the world's obedience we pray for the final day when all will bow. And we also pray for the here and now. We pray for that which is surely coming, and we unite ourselves with future victory even while we reside in a disobedient world.

We also pray for our own obedience. "Your will be done" means that I want my submission to be like the submission in Heaven eager, cheerful, buoyant. In his will is our greatest glory and joy.

We either line ourselves up with the Son of God and say to the Father,

"Your will be done," or we give in to the principle that controls the rest of the world and say, "My will be done." Obedience to God is an act of the will. Put yourself in his hands. Choose to give yourself to him daily.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)

Friends were are you at today when it comes to your prayer life, we have learned alot and this is only the beginning. And to pray a prayer like what we just looked at only comes from a heart that has been changed, one that has experienced the grace of Jesus Christ for themselves. Today have you experienced that if not see that Jesus went to the cross to die to do the will of God, and because of that work on the cross he desired that not one of his be lost who are his those who belong to him, trust in the will of God and that will forever change the very outlook of your life.

Now to those who are saved let me say this…Have you 4 weeks into this series began to change the way you have thought about prayer? If you take what you have learned in addition to day so you can truly learn how to pray.