The Red Letters #9

Kingdom Living

Matthew 6:9–13 NIV84

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 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.’

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 11:28–30 The Message

28 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Dallas Willard wrote, “The activities constituting the disciplines have no value in themselves. The aim and substance of spiritual life is not fasting, prayer, hymn singing, frugal living, and so forth. Rather, it is the effective and full enjoyment of active love of God and humankind in all the daily rounds of normal existence where we are placed.”

We pray “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. We utter the words, but I wonder if we really mean what we say. We like the sound of this petition, yet do we really think about what we are praying when we say these words?

In a state of unbelief, a man in Providence, Rhode Island, began to pray. In this condition, it occurred to him that he could say the Lord’s prayer. So he began, “Our Father which art in heaven.” He said that as soon as he uttered the words, he was convicted of his hypocrisy in calling God his Father. When he added the petition, “Hallowed be thy name,” he said it almost shocked him. He saw that he was not sincere, that his words did not at all express the state of his mind. He did not care to have God’s name hallowed. Then he uttered the next petition, “Thy kingdom come.” Upon this, he said, he almost choked. He saw that he did not want the kingdom of God to come’ that it was hypocritical of him to say so, and that he could not say it, as really expressing the sincere desire of his heart. And then came the petition, “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” He said his heart rose up against that, and he could not say it. Here he was brought face to face with the will of God.

THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN:

Randall Earl Denny says that “Jesus leads us to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ and then defines ‘kingdom’ as ‘Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’” This morning, as we continue to dive in to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and this particular section of the Sermon on the Mount that we know as the Lord’s Prayer, we focus on this phrase…Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Where His name is hallowed, His kingdom can come. Once we hallow His name, Jesus says, literally,

Come, Kingdom of you!

Jesus has not asked us to just make a request in this phrase, He has told us to make a declaration! The verb, Come, is put at the begining of the sentence for empasis. The Greek underscores praying this phrase — “Come, Kingdom of God!”

And so, when we pray through the Lord’s Prayer and come to this phrase we make a declaration on behalf of those who are not yet believers. We are praying for the world around us that does not know God—we are declaring that His kingdom will come. Come, Kingdom of God.

Is He revered here in our society? One of the most difficult struggles that we have as the church, and as people who follow Jesus is that we live today in a society that no longer honors God. It is, in many ways, a post-Christian society. In our culture, what is wrong according to scripture is often heralded as the right, and anytime we uphold scriptural values, we are ridiculed as out of touch or dangerous.

There was a study done in the early 1990’s that was the most extensive survey and research on ethical beliefs and practices ever attempted in American history. It found that at that time, only 13% of the people surveyed believe in all of the 10 commandments, and 93% say they and they alone are the final authority to decide what is right and wrong for them. That study was done over 25 years ago, and the numbers are clearly worse today than they were then. There are many other things that were discovered, but I believe that is enough to illustrate the depth of our failure as a society to revere God and His ways here on this earth. We recognize that there are serious ethical problems with our world in which we live today, and so we sometimes pray these words “Thy kingdom come” as a petition for Christ to return to the earth to bring an end to the mess that our world is in. We may pray these words with a desire to see it all come to an end!

How will we respond to the mess that our world is in? When it comes to the ungodliness in our society, it can appear like we Christians fight everything.

Some people do fight against everything, like the man who was interviewed on his 100th birthday - the interviewer began, “Being 100 years old, you have seen a lot of changes.” “Yes,” he replied, and I been against every one of em!”

Some have taken the approach that we just are waiting for Christ’s imminent return to fix the mess. Certainly, we look forward to that day, but I believe that the meaning here is much more about the here and now than about the end times.

Randall Denny says that Jesus leads us to pray, “‘Thy kingdom come,’ and then defines ‘kingdom’ as ‘Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’”

William Barclay says—“The kingdom of God is a society upon earth where God’s will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven.”

Our world today needs the church to stand up, or kneel down, and pray, “Come, Kingdom of God!” “Come, Kingdom of God” into our schools. “Come, Kingdom of God” into our communities; in our state and federal government. “Come, Kingdom of God” to our courtrooms, our business board rooms, our homes, and yes, into our churches. Visit us with your transforming power and your amazing grace! Come, Kingdom of God!

“The woman was a familiar face. People who traveled often saw her peddling vegetables from a cart along country roads. On one occasion a motorist noticed her throwing a stick in the air at an intersection and asked her, ‘Why are you tossing the stick up like that?’

‘I’m trying to decide which road to take,’ she answered as she continued to toss the stick.

‘How many times do you need to throw the stick to decide?’ he asked.

The woman stopped, turned toward the driver, and said, ‘Until it points the way I want to go.’”

That is often our attitude when we approach the Lord in prayer. “The tendency to self-centered prayer is the precise reason Jesus built the petition “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” into His pattern prayer.”

This petition is, in many ways, just the opposite of what the Israelites asked of God in the Old Testament. There was a time in Israel’s history that the government was a theocracy. That means that there was no earthly king—the king was God Himself. They were ruled by the will of God. The kingdom was, in a direct way, God’s Kingdom! The Israelites began to look around at the other nations and they saw that they all had earthly kings, so they asked for an earthly king. That was the beginning of the end for the Israelites as a nation. God let them have their way, but in that succession of kingdoms, He promised that one day there would come another king that would reestablish the monarchy where it truly belonged. In sending His one and only son, He reestablised the theocracy. His kingdom had come to earth in Jesus—now we are to pray that His kingdom would come into our day and time.

As Isaiah prayed:

Isaiah 64:1 NRSV

1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—

Isaiah 64:3–5 NIV84

3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. 5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?

He comes in response to those who wait in prayer, and who gladly do right! Come, Kingdom of God

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Literally: “Be done, the will of you as in heaven, also in earth!

Again, this is not just a request for God’s will to be done. The verb’s placement at the beginning of the sentence tells us that Jesus is teaching us to declare “Be done, will of God!”

Randall Denney says that “the tendency to self-centered prayer is the precise reason Jesus built” this petition.” The purpose of prayer is not to get our way! Let me say that again, because it is that important—the purpose of prayer is not to get our way, but to get God’s will done in earth as it is in heaven. Be done, will of God…in my family, in other believers, in the church, in the challenges, problems, questions; “Be done, Will of God” in my life today!

Reactions to Thy will be done:

Resentment—when we resent God’s will, we may do it, but we certainly don’t like the idea.

Resignation—There is no other option, so we reluctantly resign to do His will.

Relinquishment—Jesus would have us relinquish our will and our desires for the desires of the Father. Missionary E. Stanley Jones explains, “God couldn’t will anything for us except our highest good—couldn’t and still be God. God’s will is our highest interest at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances. Things may happen to us which are not primarily God’s will—they come out of the will of man. Their genesis may be evil. And yet, if we let God guide us, He can turn them into good.”

Knowing His will:

We will never know His will if we are determined to do it our way. Knowing His will depends on being willing to do it.

A young woman wrote this prayer on her wedding day:

“Dear God, I can hardly believe that this is my wedding day. I know I haven’t been able to spend much time with You lately with all the rush of getting ready for today, and I’m sorry.

I guess, too that I feel a little guilty when I try to pray about all this because Larry still isn’t a Christian, but oh, Father, I love him so much, what else can I do? I just couldn’t give him up.

You know how much I’ve prayed for him. I’ve tried not to appear too religious because I didn’t want to scare him off. Yet, he isn’t agnostic, and I can’t understand why he hasn’t responded.

Dear Father, please bless our marriage. I don’t want to disobey You, but I do love him and I want to be his wife, so please be with us and please don’t spoil my wedding day.”

Randall Denny says, “here’s what she really said: “Dear Father, I don’t want to disobey You, but I must have my own way at all costs. I want what You do not want. So, please be a good God, deny yourself, move off Your throne, and let me take over. If you don’t like this, then all I ask is that You bite Your tongue and say or do nothing that will spoil my plans, but let me enjoy myself.”

How is His will revealed?

Generally, His will is revealed not through miraculous events but through His word. God reveals to us in His word His desires for us, and yet many Christians pray that God would let them do something else. Rather than seeking His will for us through applying His word to our lives, we would rather search His word to find justification for what we want to do! Harry Rimmer puts it this way, “If you are determined to find a way to have your way, don’t bother to pray, ‘Thy will be done.”

Pastor John MacArthur points out that “the literal Greek of the petition, ‘Thy will be done’ says something like this: ‘Your will, whatever You wish to happen, let it happen,’ and then the Greek adds, ‘As in heaven, so in earth.’ In other words, ‘God do what You want.’ That is the bottom-line prayer.” The Greek word used here for God’s will carries the idea of desire. “God’s desire for us can be fulfilled only by our response and acceptance.” Tony Campolo has said, “It’s silly to pray for God’s coming rule if I’m not willing to let Him rule over my life now.” When I pray for His kingdom to come I am, in effect enlisting to allow His kingdom full reign in my life in the here and now! Praying for God’s kingdom to come and for His will to be done perfectly is a fresh commitment of our desire for His will to be done perfectly in us. T.W. Willingham wrote, “One could complain of such a prayer—‘Thy will be done’—only if he desired something outside of God’s will…When one refuses to pray for the will of the Father, he must feel that his own will is superior to the Father’s” Any sincere Christian would not want to overtly make such a claim, but when we do not pray for His will that is the claim we make!

Even Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemene prayed that God’s will would be done. Jesus did tell God what His will was, He wanted to live. But He goes on to say, “nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” We often think of this as a giving up of Jesus’ will to the Father’s, but if Jesus is really praying for God’s will to be done, then He would have prayed it with confidence. He did not go to Calvary a reluctant sacrifice; he went as a triumphant King.

W. Phillip Keller tells the following life-changing story. “He gives a vivid picture that turns on the light of truth when he introduces an aged craftsman, with deeply lined face and stooped shoulders, who welcomed Keller and his missionary companion to a little, shabby potter’s shop.

Keller was reminded of the words from

Jeremiah 18:2 NRSV

2 “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”

The potter led them to a small, dark shed, where they were almost overcome by an ‘overpowering stench of decaying matter’ at the edge of a gaping dark pit in the floor. As the potter’s hands brought up a lump of dark mud, it was easy to understand what the psalmist meant:

Psalm 40:2 KJV 1900

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Then as the potter gently patted the ugly lump of mud in his hands into a round ball of earth,’ Keller observed, ‘I knew God was dealing very plainly with my earthly heart. With meticulous precision, the potter placed the lump of earth exactly in the center of his wheel. Just as the potter took special pains to center the clay on the stone wheel, so God exercises very particular care in centering my life down in Christ.’ He goes on ‘Somehow I could sense that in the crude, shapeless fragment of earth between his hands, the potter already saw a vase or goblet of exquisite form and beauty. There was in this clod of crude clay enormous possibilities. The very thought seemed to thrill him. How swiftly but surely the clay responded to the pressure applied to it through those moistened hands. Silently, smoothly, the form of a graceful goblet began to take shape beneath those hands…His will actually was being done in earth.

The stone of the potter’s wheel stopped unexpectedly, and the potter removed a bit of grit from the goblet. He started the wheel spinning again and quickly smoothed the surface of the goblet.

Suddenly he stopped the stone again.’ Keller said. ‘He pointed…to a deep, ragged gouge that cut and scarred the goblet’s side. It was ruined beyond repair. In dismay he crushed it beneath his hands, a formless mass of mud lying in a heap upon the potter’s wheel.” He had met resistance and so this beautiful masterpiece was ruined.

The stone started to whirl again. Swiftly, deftly, and in short order a plain little finger bowl was shaped on the wheel. What might have been a gorgeous goblet was now only a peasant’s finger bowl it was certainly second best.”

Our Father in heaven is, of course, our potter. The resistance to His will comes from within us. Are you going to be a beautiful goblet or a common finger bowl? Maybe you are looking at your life and you feel like you already have blown the opportunity to be the best formation that you could have been. Don’t look back and think what might have been. Rather, look forward and think about what can yet be. The potter still wants to make a beautiful vessel out of you. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth”—in me—“as it is in heaven.”

God’s will being done in my life requires me to totally consecrate my life to His full control. As Paul outlines in Romans 12:1-2 in the NRSV it reads this way:

Romans 12:1–2 NRSV

1 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, which is your spiritual worship. 2 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.

I like the way the Message says it:

Romans 12:1–2 The Message

1 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. 2 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.

His will being done in you begins with this act of consecration. Phoebe Palmer was an evangelist in the early 1900’s. In her book, The Way of Holiness, she described consecration as...

Consecration—To take the service of God as the absorbing business of life, and to regard heaven as your…native home, and to make the accumulation of treasure in heaven the chief object of ambition.—Phoebe Palmer, The Way of Holiness.

Only when you have so consecrated your life to the Lord are you in a place where you can be transformed to allow His will to be done in you!

Sing #404 “Have Thine Own Way, Lord”