He Would Seek The Fathers Will

Scripture: John 4:34, Matthew 27:46, Matthew 6:9-13

Takeaway: Seeking the presence of God is our first priority not our last resort.

INTRO

Have you ever interviewed for a job? It can be a nerve-racking experience. The interviewer ask you all sorts of questions that you might not be prepared for. They might ask you questions that you would rather not think about like, “What’s your greatest weakness?” In which you might respond, “My greatest weakness is that I work too hard!” “Where do you see yourself in five years?” “Driving a TESLA because I’m CEO of Amazon.” “Why do you want to work here?” “I don’t want to work here; I need gas money.” “What defines you as a person?” “23 and Me says I’m mostly European.”

But in all seriousness, what’s up with those questions? When we get interviewed for a job, your potential employer wants to know if you can handle the job and to see if you have what it takes to carry the workload. They want to know what you do and what motivates you in what you do.

TENSION

So, imagine God has an open position for “Savior of the World.” How do you think Jesus would respond to those interview questions? What would Jesus do? If Jesus was asked the question, “What defines you as a person,” how would He respond?

Some of you would define Jesus by His power and He is all-powerful but there’s more to Him than that. Some of you would define Jesus by His love and that’s accurate but incomplete. It’s dangerous to put Jesus in one box and say that this one defines Him. But I am confident that this statement not only defines Him but also reveals His motivation.

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. John 4:34 NIV

So, what is it that motivates and defines Jesus? Jesus always sought and did the will of God. I believe that all the characteristics and aspects of Jesus can fit in these questions that all have the answer. Why did Jesus love? To accomplish the Father’s will. Why did He heal people? To accomplish the Father’s will. Why did He go against the powers of injustice? To accomplish the Father’s will.

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Jesus and the Father are one. We can see this in the last moments of Jesus’ earthly life. When Jesus was arrested and tortured, He never complained or hated his enemies. He forgave the people that attacked Him. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t painful, but His ego and power didn’t define Him. But when Jesus’s connection to the Father was cut off, this was the most painful moment of His life.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 NIV

For Jesus, to be separated from God was excruciating. It was the worst thing that could be done to Him. The difference between being connected and separated from God was hurtful. But what about you?

If God wasn’t in your life, would you notice anything different? Would your life look and feel any different?

You can’t comprehend a difference if you never had a connection.

So, what do you do if you’ve never felt connected to God? How do we seek the Father’s will and also do His will?

TRUTH

Jesus' followers had these exact questions. Jesus had a habit of going off on His own. What was He doing? He was praying and spending time with God. He was seeking God’s will so that He could do what God wanted.

So naturally, His disciples asked him, “How do we do that, how should we pray?”(This is asked in Luke 11). The way that Jesus responded was profound. The prayer that Jesus laid out is known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” Each line of this prayer is packed with so much truth and purpose that you would miss it if you only looked at it from a surface level. So, let’s break this down on what it looks like to seek God’s will:

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“ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,” Matthew 6:9 NIV

This opening line is already filled with purpose. In it, we see two identities that allow us access to God. The first is that we are God’s children. Another way of saying that is we bear the image of God (described in Genesis). Because we are God’s children, we always have access to Him. He wants a relationship where we can come to Him.

The second identity we see is when Jesus says, “hallowed be your name.” We are name-bearers. This is a reference to Exodus where God called Israel to be a royal priesthood. We are to carry God’s name with us wherever we go. This is identifying that wherever I am, my purpose is to represent God’s name to the world around me.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10 NIV

Everything about what Jesus did on this Earth was about revealing God’s kingdom on Earth. His sole purpose was to do God’s will and it should be ours too. I don’t come to God to get stuff. I seek God because I want to do his will.

When we pray “on earth as it is in heaven” we are praying for our lives to be the point where heaven and earth collide. We want the way that we live to cause revival to break out wherever we go. We want every interruption to be an opportunity for God to work.

Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 NIV

[Daily bread is a call back to the Israelites in the wilderness. They would receive enough manna for the day and would have to return the next.]

This line is so short, but there is so much happening here. Jesus taught us to ask God for enough to make it through one day. If God gave you only enough for today (daily bread) would you be satisfied or would you be angry? When we pray, we tend to ask for a monthly bread or a yearly bread. We want to be set up for life so that we don’t have to worry.

So why did Jesus teach us to ask for daily bread? Because doing the will of God was food for Jesus. Being in the presence of God was like having food for the day. He would never miss a chance to seek God because that would be like starving Himself. God gives us daily bread so that we will return to Him and so that we will rely on His power and not our own.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Matthew 6:12 NIV

When we enter the presence of God, we have opportunity to repent for our sins. The word repent means to correct the way we are living. It’s more than saying “sorry.” It’s changing the way we see, feel, and do life. This should never be a break-in-case-of-emergency action when we want stuff from God. This should be a daily habit so that we be available to do God’s will.

But the second part is important too. The word forgiven is in the past tense. Before we go to God for forgiveness, we have already chosen to live a life of forgiveness towards others. Why? To not forgive others would be going against God, which is a sin. It’s hard to see God’s best for our life when sin is blinding us.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:13 NIV

When Jesus prayed this last part, He acknowledged that there was spiritual warfare happening around Him. He knew that when you become a threat to the enemy, the enemy will do everything to make you fail. If you don’t feel like the enemy is attacking your life, it’s probably because you aren’t a threat.

When we go to God to seek His will, we need God to reveal the potential temptations in our life that will make us stumble. We need to seek God’s protection from our enemies. To seek God’s will is to go to war with Satan.

APPLICATION

So, what does it look like to seek and do the Father’s will:

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Allow God to Define Us – God is our Father meaning we can come to Him whenever we want. We should want a relationship with Him because He is our Father. We also bear His name meaning we are His representatives to the world.

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We Pray as Kingdom Workers – When God is at work in our lives we become the intersecting point where heaven meets earth. When we pray, we should be more concerned with what God wants to do in this world.

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God’s Will Is Our Daily Bread – A day without God should feel like starvation. We want to develop a relationship that is reliant on God’s presence and not our strength.

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Forgiveness Is Our First Response – not our last resort. Before we seek God’s will, we need to have an attitude of healing to the relationships in our lives. You can’t see a life that needs God if sin is blinding you. At the same time, God’s mercy should be something we seek every day.

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We Live a Life That Threatens the Enemy – We want to live a life that threatens the enemy. Knowing we are a threat, we want God to lead us to His goodness and away from temptation.

LANDING

Our lives will always be defined by our relationship with God. When we live outside of God’s will, we experience the worst of this world. But when we seek and do God’s will, we get to bring heaven on earth.

When we seek God’s will daily, we are building a relationship. We are opening our eyes to the possibilities of the Kingdom. We are building a reliance on God. This is what defined Jesus and what He did, and this is what should define us as His followers.

This Man video/Prayer