The Lord's Prayer, Part two

 His Kingdom. His Will.

Last week we looked briefly at the first verse of this prayer: “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed by Your name.” Today I want us to examine the next verse, “‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

 

Here again is the entire prayer in context: Jesus told them: “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:7-15)

 

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done.”

 

Let’s first talk about the Father’s coming Kingdom. Christian, Listen! This is important. Doubters will always doubt. Skeptics will always be skeptical. Mockers will mock as they always have. Do you remember what St Peter said about such people? “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4)

 

Yes, mockers will mock. Ignore them. Instead, just put your faith in the inerrant, infallible, fully inspired the word of God which vows: Jesus will return for his own – and ONLY His own. And the Father’s kingdom will come to earth. The Creator of all that is seen and unseen has never made a rash statement, never made a promise that He did not intend to keep, never made a futile vow.

His kingdom WILL come to earth. Here are only a few of the infallible promises of Scripture – this one describing some of what will happen just before the final fulfillment of that promised earthly Kingdom: 

 

Revelation 21: 21:1-4, 7-8 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

And Revelation 22: “And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; ⁴ they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever.”

 

There are many, many more examples of Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments that paint us pictures more revealing than the handwriting on Belshazzar’s wall (see Daniel 5), but for the sake of time, let’s let these few texts suffice. God's promises about His kingdom will not be overruled by anyone or anything in all creation.

 

These promises are not ‘pie-in-the-sky’ fairy tales we tell children. These are sacred and hope-filled truths just waiting for their fulfillment: “And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain.”

 

No more loss. No more grief. No more wheelchairs and walkers and hospice beds. No more death. No wonder the Christian, when he and she ponder such things, cry out, “Maranatha, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.”  And, I add all the time – “Today would be a good day.”

So, what then is the application of all these promises of His coming earthly kingdom to us on this day in October 2022? How then are we to live?

 

Scripture answers that question, too. For example: Titus 2:11-14  “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

 

But with all the glorious and comforting promises soon to be fulfilled for the child of God, we need to look at one more text from the last chapters of Revelation, a deeply ominous warning about what will happen to ALL those who are not part of God's eternal kingdom because of their persistent godless and disobedient lifestyles.  Here is Revelation 20:11-15

 

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

There is a growing number of people, including not a few pastors and theologians, who perform all kinds of theological gymnastics to dilute the dire warning of this text in Revelation 20, and similar texts in both testaments. They say these texts of warning don’t mean what they actually say. Many of these same people like to believe hell itself doesn’t exist – and if it does, God would never allow any of His creatures to spend eternity in that Lake of Fire.

 

Please hear this: It is easy for people who do not want to know the truth to convince themselves that their darkness is light and their bitter is sweet.  But I am here to tell you that these chapters are not only inerrant and infallible, but also fully inspired—God-breathed, and given to us by the Holy Spirit to soberly warn all who reject Christ and His kingdom – to warn them of their certain future.

 

Now let me pause here a moment and say I do not believe anyone here is among those who live with lies. If you were, you would not sit under my preaching week after week as some of you for the past seven years since I first began teaching and preaching here at Ashwood.

 

However, I am always obligated to Christ AND to you to tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth from God's word so that you and I not fall prey to the seductive lies of Satan who roams about, seeking whom he may devour.

 

Okay, so now let’s move on. The Lord tells us to pray for God's kingdom to come. That is a significant point because if we live to establish and maintain OUR kingdom, our authority, our domain, then we will do whatever we must do to establish AND maintain it.

 

To that point, James tells us: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:1-4)

 

Anyone who has lived as long as we have knows that people will lie, cheat, seduce, manipulate, even kill if necessary, to keep their own kingdom intact. Think back to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day who strove to keep their authority. Here is a text from the gospels, the context of which is the story when Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave. As a result, many were now following Jesus. “Therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (John 11:47-48)

 

Many of you know what happened next. The clergy conspired together how to kill Jesus. And we find in the next chapter, they conspire to kill Lazarus. Why? To get rid of the evidence. In other words, they would rush to commit even murder to keep THEIR kingdom and their power.

 

Application to 2022? Those of you who follow the nightly news see evidence of the same kinds of evil James wrote about working itself out all around us – from the halls of government and education and courtrooms and the media . . . even in many churches.

Again, the application to you and to me? Christian – let us all make absolutely certain day after day that we are not party to those kinds of self-serving deals that are all birthed in hell. Again, the words from James: You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

 

May God help us day by day as we ask Him to make us ever vigilant to never seek our own kingdom over Christ’s. And don’t think for a moment that just because of our advanced ages here at Ashwood Meadows that we cannot be tempted to hold on tightly to what we think is ours.

 

And by the way, there is a flawless therapy that will always keep us away from that satanic self-kingdom seeking. For example, here is the Holy Spirit’s instruction in Philippians 3: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:3-5)

Now, Romans 12:10-13 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”

How do we remain vigilant? The Psalmist again gives us guidance: “How can a young man (or an old one) keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word.” (Psalm 119:9)

 

Now to the next petition: THY WILL be done. Let’s pause a moment. “THY will be done.” Thy will be done.

 

Easy to say, no? But when we pray those words we are telling our Father who art in heaven: “I want YOUR will in my life and in my circumstances, and not my will if MY will contradicts Yours.”

 

Again, that’s easy to say. But what about when we live with chronic pain? Or are chronically lonely? What about when our family doesn’t call or visit? What about when our finances are dangerously low? What about when someone we love is dying – and is way too young to die? What about the hundreds of circumstances and situations that we would change if we could do so with a word or a wave of the hand?

 

What do we want when God's will is NOT to heal, or save from death, or to replenish dwindling finances?  What do we want when it is NOT God’s will to answer in the affirmative our particular prayers?  What then?

 

I can cite for you plenty of role models of how men and women in Biblical and in Church history who answered those questions properly. in biblical and church history answered those questions. For the sake of time, let me stick only with the Biblical examples – such as the apostle Paul. Many of you know of his prayer for relief from his “thorn in the flesh.”  Three times he asked God to take it away, and three times God told him, ‘No.’ And yet, Paul continued to serve Christ faithfully and honorably.

 

Or we can look at Moses, who pleaded with God to let him enter the promised land – and God told him, ‘No.’ And yet, Moses continued to serve the Father faithfully and honorably.

 

Or we could also look at the ‘heroes of faith’ in the latter part of Hebrews 11 who were tortured, “stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated . . . wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.” And yet, they all continued to serve God faithfully and honorably.

 

Each of these examples, along with the multiplied thousands of martyrs in Biblical and in Church history right up to this very moment in foreign lands – they each took themselves by the proverbial scruff of the neck and told the Father – “I don’t understand this. I don’t LIKE this . . . but nevertheless, THY will be done on earth –and in my life – as it is done in heaven.”

 

Again, easy to say – not so easy to do – unless the Holy Spirit quickens us and enables us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and to not lean to our own human and very finite understanding. That is why we ought to pray for God's grace – for what we are going through now, and for what we may go through in the future – for God's power to enable us to do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

 

Last week we looked briefly at the first verse of this prayer: “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” Today we looked at the next part of the petition: ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

Our glorious and mighty God is our Father. He is our ‘daddy.’ But even with that familial relationship, we must never become complacent in our relationship with Him. We must never take Him for granted. He is utterly and impeccably Holy. His name is utterly and impeccably holy and hallowed. Therefore, we ought to strive to live in such a way as to reflect our loving obedience to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

God's kingdom WILL come, just as He promised. His will WILL be done, just as He deserves from us to desire His will, and not seek our own.

 

The prayer the Lord taught His disciples speaks to the hearts and souls and spirits of all His children who seek Christ above all things. May the Holy Spirit always work in us that which is always pleasing to our Father who art in heaven.  Amen.