The Lord's Prayer: Your Kingdom Come

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Lets pray, but feel free to keep your eyes open. Our Father who art in heaven. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Padre nuestos que estas en el cielo. [00:00:13] Speaker A: Hallowed be your name. [00:00:15] Speaker B: Santificados si tu nombre. Your kingdom come vingae nostrosos tureno. [00:00:27] Speaker A: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Hagase tu volentad en aliziera como en el cielo. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Give us this day our daily bread. [00:00:43] Speaker B: Dana sui nuestro pan de cadadia. [00:00:49] Speaker A: And forgive us our debts as we [00:00:51] Speaker B: forgive our debtors Per dona nuestras ofensas como tambien nostrosos per dono masos alo que noso fenan. [00:01:04] Speaker A: And lead us not into temptation. [00:01:09] Speaker B: No nos tejes cayer en la tenka [00:01:16] Speaker A: tanacio but deliver us from evil [00:01:22] Speaker B: y libre nos del mar. [00:01:25] Speaker A: For yours is the kingdom Porque tuyo [00:01:30] Speaker B: es el rieno the power and the glory. El prodo y la gloria forever and ever. [00:01:42] Speaker A: Amen. [00:01:44] Speaker B: Por simpire. Amen. [00:01:47] Speaker A: All God's people said Amen. Thank you so much, Evelyn. [00:01:50] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:01:51] Speaker A: Well, this is part six of a journey that we started a couple of Sundays ago on Father's Day, in fact, a six week journey called the Lord's Prayer. And of course it's the world's most famous prayer. It's a prayer that's probably been prayed more often, recited more often, sung more often than any other prayer in all of history. In fact, unchurched people know this prayer. You've probably been along to a funeral service where they pray this prayer. They pray this prayer in Parliament, mind you, no longer in the Upper House here in Tasmania they certainly do. In the Lower House, they certainly still pray. In the Upper House they pray this prayer, the Lord's Prayer in schools. And it goes to the heart of life, praying for the things that really do matter. Now, typically this prayer is called, yes, the Lord's Prayer, as we discussed a couple of weeks ago. But probably more accurate, it's probably better called the prayer that the Lord taught the disciples because Jesus himself did not label it as the Lord's Prayer that was written in later on. So this is really the disciples prayer. You see, the real Lord's Prayer, if you think about, is probably in John chapter 17 with Jesus in the garden. He did not pray the Lord's Prayer in the garden. There was submission and trust. Absolutely. But so the Lord's Prayer is probably From John, chapter 17, the context of the Lord's Prayer. Well, that's the Sermon on the Mount, Matthews. Five, six, seven. And I think it's important to remind ourselves that the disciples did not ask, Jesus, teach us how to pray. They did not say that at all. That's a different question altogether. The disciples were Jewish course, they knew how to pray. They memorized prayers. Their question was not to teach us how to pray. Their question was, Jesus, teach us to pray. So that suggests to us, does it not, that they saw something in Jesus life that attracted, that they were attracted to, to develop a relationship with Almighty God. So they grew up memorizing prayers. And so it wasn't so much instruction as it was probably motivation. They observed something different and fresh in the life of Jesus himself. So this prayer, the Lord's Prayer, is not necessari necessarily something we need to memorise, but probably more a model in how we approach God. Maybe think of it like a skeleton by which all of our prayers are formed. Another thing we talked about a couple of weeks ago is that in this particular prayer, we don't see the word me, my or I. In this prayer, in fact, we do see you, we do see yours, we do see ours. Because Jesus was creating a new community. And it's a part of a communal prayer that we pray. And it's about us being with our Father. One of the most beautiful things I think about the Lord's Prayer is the simplicity of this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. And this is what Jesus does so often. He turns what we complicate into something very, very. And what I've learned from the Lord's Prayer is that in prayer that you in fact never graduate from simplicity, you know, often not about you, but, you know, we kind of think, oh, in my prayer life, what's the more anointed prayer that I could pray here to get God's attention? You know, what's the more advanced prayer that I could pray to God to come on, what's the, you know, the, the substantial prayer that I could get his attention. You see, you never graduate from simplicity when it comes to prayer because the Lord's Prayer is designed for you and I to become a person of prayer. Three words the Lord's Prayer summed up. It's all about relationship. Remember relationship and relationship. You think about it, if God is omniscient, all powerful, if God is all knowing and all present, why do we pray in the first place if God knows everything? It's a good question. Thanks for asking. Because it's about relationship, relationship, relationship. God also wants you, I believe, to be a part of the miracle that's about to take place. Whether that's a yes or a no. He invites you into that space of the miraculous. But it's about relationship. And so week one, we're invited. As we talked about the first line, our Father who is in heaven. Our Father. We start there. Jesus says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Notice that Jesus teaches the disciples here not to bring your requests immediately, But come to the Father and address him as Father. They were used to addressing God as what? As Almighty. But now he's inviting, as Jesus used this word, Father, that we're invited because of Jesus, to refer to God Almighty as Father. Not just to call him Father, but in fact to call him King. And what I mean by that, the flip side is if we have a king who is not Father, what we end up with is religious dread. Think about it. Someone who's in charge, someone who's up there and who's out there. And I don't even really know if he's interested or if he's even good. But Jesus invites us now to call him Father. It's family, it's us. It's more than me. It's King and Father. And of course, there are six movements to this prayer. We've already talked about one a couple of weeks ago. This is the second movement in verse one. Sorry. In one verse, in verse 10, where Jesus places his central message right here. And it says, your king, he says, you kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is the second movement of the Lord's Prayer. Your kingdom, the kingdom of God. Here, Jesus central message. And I think the best way, maybe my understanding of it, to describe the kingdom of God is God's royal power and authority. God's royal power and authority. And this is expressed as it says there, in his acts of mercy, justice, power, forgiveness, and his healing. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So what does God's kingdom coming, your kingdom come? What does God's kingdom coming look like? What does God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven look like? Well, the New Testament's clear. It's about his mercy, his justice, his power, his forgiveness and his healing. Now, there are two petitions. Did you pick that up? Two petitions in this verse 10 prayer. Prayer for the kingdom to come, firstly, and secondly, for the king himself to exercise his authority when he teaches us to pray that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So let's look at the three basic elements this morning of God's kingdom. Let's look at the character of this kingdom, the coming of this kingdom and also the commission of this kingdom. Try to keep it pretty simple. Hopefully be able to remember the three Cs, the character, the coming and the commission. But firstly, let's look at the character of this kingdom where Jesus says to pray your kingdom come. What kind of kingdom is Jesus referring to? We're talking about the character now. Now, most of us, when we hear the word kingdom, we might consider maybe memories that maybe fill our youth or childhood, of maybe movies or cartoons or knights and swords and castles. Castles. Castles, castles, castles. Princes and princes and frogs. It depends. Your mind goes to what we hear, what we think of when we hear the word kingdom. According to Webster's dictionary, the definition there put that as a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or a queen. That's a dictionary's definition. In other words, it's a territory of people, is it not? It's a territory of people over which a king or queen reigns with total authority. That's the dictionary definition. What's the Bible definition? Well, we've just briefly touched on that. But in the Bible, when you look at God's kingdom, it speaks of it in two ways. Outwardly and inwardly. An outward kingdom and an inward kingdom. In one sense it's outward and physical. In another sense it's inward and spiritual. And of course we know that the Jews, they expected what the Jews expected, a literal, physical kingdom. You see, when Jesus showed up, they're thinking, well, I want this king now. I want this king to establish a king dominated of course by God ruling through his Messiah. Of course they were raised to believe [00:13:00] Speaker B: this [00:13:04] Speaker A: 111 times, depending on your translation. Of course. This is Jesus central message, this idea of the kingdom 111 times mentioned in the four Gospels. Let's have a look at just a couple. Here we go. Matthew, chapter five. Once again, the Sermon on the Mount is the context. Matthew, chapter five. Blessed are the poor, Jesus says in spirit, for theirs is the. Here's this word, kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will be by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. He keeps going. Matthew, chapter six. Your kingdom come. For yours is the kingdom. He said yours Is the power, verse 33 in Matthew chapter 6. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So the Sermon on the mount. Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7 keeps mentioning Kingdom, kingdom, kingdom, kingdom, kingdom. But to add to that, he gives stories in Matthew chapter 13. And these stories are called parables. Why? Because Jesus said, I want to show you the mysteries of the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in a field. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is like leavened bread. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure in a field. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, et cetera, et cetera. You get the idea. This is Jesus central message, this the kingdom of God. And so throughout his teachings, it's all about the kingdom. Matthew chapter 24. Later on in this chapter, the disciples want to know, when will this kingdom come? When is this kingdom coming? Jesus tells them about the. Wait for it. The eschatological kingdom that is coming at the end of days. A little bit of homework for you later on that he's going to set up on earth. And of course, Jesus went to the cross, as we remembered before, and he died upon the cross and rose from the dead. And when he rose from the dead, guess what he started talking to the disciples about? You got it in Acts 1:3, that he was seen by them, the disciples, during 40 days. And speaking of the things pertaining here we go to the kingdom of God. Let's just summarize just for a moment, if we could. The kingdom is both internal and external. It has a personal, individual aspect. Absolutely. It has a global, worldwide aspect. It is an invisible spiritual kingdom, as well as one day a visible, actual, literal kingdom. But right now, it's just the first part. That internal, personal, individual, spiritual, invisible. Putting it another way, maybe we could just put it like this. Wherever God rules over the human heart, there is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is established there. And we've heard two testify already today and of course on Monday, that God is ruling in these three people's hearts. And that's why Jesus could say that the kingdom of God is at hand, that the kingdom of God is near, that the kingdom of God is within you. Probably better translated, that's in your midst. The kingdom of God is in your midst. So that's the character. Remember the three C's. That's the character of God's kingdom. Let's look at the second aspect. Let's look at the coming of this kingdom. When Jesus said, you Kingdom come. Your kingdom come. Now to pray this. Your kingdom come. Essentially, what we're praying for God to do is, is for his authority, for his rule personally, societally, and eventually. Let me flesh that out just for a moment. You see, when we pray your kingdom come, what I mean by that is, I mean in my life, personally, to rule over me, Lord, be in charge of my life. These three people in the waters of Baptistry, that's what they're saying, have your way. In my life, it's no longer I who lives, but it's Christ in me personally. Secondly, that I pray that in the lives of other people. Because what I've experienced in my life, I want it for others. And through evangelism, not just evangelism, but also my good works that validate my evangelism, the kingdom of God spreads. But when I pray your kingdom come personally and in others, I also mean in the future, eventually. So essentially, I'm saying, come quickly, come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Establish your kingdom on earth. And by the way, we don't do it. He will do it. He will do it. He's more than capable of doing that himself. The kingdom comes when the king comes, right? You see, without a king, there is no kingdom. And the real show starts when King Jesus shows up. Why? Because he is sovereign. He reigns over it all. He is the king of kings. He is the Lord of lords. So that's the character of this kingdom, but it's also the coming of this kingdom. The third and final aspect is the commission. The commission of this kingdom. The second request. Let's address that now in verse 10. Not only your kingdom come, your will be done, but on earth, on earth as it is in heaven. Because apparently, apparently, it's possible for God's will not to be done on earth. The very fact that Jesus told us to pray this indicates, does it not, that God's will is not always being done on earth. Human trafficking, Abuse, murder, hatred, oppression, cruelty, you name it. Is that God's will? You better believe it's not your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's God's will that we experience a little bit of heaven on earth right now. So if you're going through hell, don't stop. Keep going, Keep moving forward. I know some of us are going through pretty tough times. Whatever those circumstances are for you, keep moving forward. In other words, God wants the principles, he wants the values of heaven, wherever his church is. The Bible teaches us what God's will is for us personally, for this world. And we think about it, God is not willing. God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. That's his will. That's his will. So my question to us this morning is to consider, is everybody saved? No, they're not. Has everybody come to repentance? No, they haven't. Are there people who perish? Absolutely. It's not what God wants yet. It happens. It happens all the time. So we're taught your will be done because God's will is not always perfectly being done on earth. Is God sovereign? Absolutely he is. He reigns absolutely. And he will bring his kingdom. Yes. But it does not mean to sit on our hands. For transformation is God's work. But participation is your and my responsibility. And so this prayer implies responsibility that he's the king and it's his kingdom and it's our commission. What is that to do? What's our commission? To represent the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Of course. Jesus is our example. Think of what Jesus came to do. Jesus is our example here. He what, preached the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom. He preached that? Absolutely. He trained the disciples, he taught them the truth. He taught them to therefore go. He taught in their synagogues. He alleviated human suffering to validate the message of his preaching, brought healing of sickness and disease, and he brought these kingdom values to the culture in which he lived. And as observers, as followers, those as Christians throughout history noticed this in Jesus life. In noticing this, they believed that they had a mandate about the culture in which they lived. And they were not called to apathy, but they were called to activity. Not indifference, but involvement. Just as we come to the end here this morning, I want to ask you, have you ever experienced a culture shock? I know the first person who's going to put up his hand. I don't know if he really understands, but we know Wim is experiencing culture shock. Massive culture shock to come from Sri Lanka. I know some of you have been to different countries. You ever experienced culture shock? Right, we have. You go to a different country, they do things differently, they drive on a different side of the road. Some don't even have cars. You start a different job, it's a culture shock. You go to a different church, it's a little bit of culture shock. Right. So much is different than you are used to. The language is different, the food is different, manners are different, handshakes. Anyone been in New Zealand? Never. Oh, there we go. We've got a New Zealander here. Yeah, of course. In parts of New Zealand, the way they greet you, you've seen it. Tipping clothing, bathrooms. We were in London just a couple of years ago, my wife and I and children, and we're walking in the garden somewhere in central London. And of course you have to go to the toilet, and of course the toilets are over there. But guess what? In London, you have to. You have to pay. There's no way we were going to pay to go to the toilet in London. So we went over in the. No, we didn't. No, we didn't. No, we didn't. We didn't. We didn't, we didn't. Culture shock. And what I'm getting to is God's kingdom's culture is so radically different than Australian or worldly culture that we can expect some kingdom culture shock. For example, in our culture. Think about that for a moment. It's, of course, it's expected that we love our friends, but in kingdom culture, we're expected to love our enemies. It's a culture shock. We're to pray for those who persecute us. That's a culture shock. But this is kingdom culture. And Jesus addressed this through this incredible sermon that this is the kingdom culture, and this is what he expects from his people. For his kingdom is to come and his will is being done on earth as it is in heaven. What he wanted to emphasize was kingdom culture. And it's very, very different for the culture of this world. I love studying the great revivals of history. I don't know if you've read and studied up yourself, but some of these revivals produced a number of things in terms of fruit. There was, in fact, strong gospel preaching, There was mass conversion. There's renewed love for the scriptures and the rich songwriting that came out of some of these revivals. And in society in which people got saved, in fact got better, that the fruit of the gospel is changed. Maybe I'll put it like this, a bit of a tongue twister, but a saved soul sanctifies society. Can you say that fast? A saved soul sanctifies society. In other words, the transformation, the transformation of an individual by God's saving power and grace can have a transforming effect on the society around them. Just imagine, just for a moment, if everyone on planet earth was saved and following in the ways of Jesus. Because that's why we pray, isn't it? That's why we pray. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth. So as we wait for the coming kingdom of God, what is it that we do. We've got Jesus example, of course, and we follow his example. If you and I, if we have tasted the kingdom personally, if the kingdom is coming, eventually we are to do what Jesus did. What's that? To preach or to share. To share appropriately the good news. To live it out. To teach and train others in the ways of Jesus and to help heal the wounds of those around us, emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally, as we live transformed lives that demonstrate all of that. I want to finish with Psalm 146, if I could. Psalm 146, 7, 10. God executes justice for the oppressed. He gives food to the hungry. He gives freedom to the prisoners. He opens the eyes of the blind. He raises those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers. The Lord shall reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Amen and Amen. Let me pray for us as we close our eyes and reflect this morning. And believe it or not, you do have your own little kingdom at the moment that's happening in your own little world. And we've been invited out of that to join in to something bigger and better than just getting trapped in our own little world. But we've been invited into the world that God so loved so much that he gave his one and only Son for that. Maybe this message this morning that your kingdom come, maybe it's a prayer for you to pray in your heart of hearts just in these next few moments as the team come and lead us in our final song that you confess before the Lord in your heart of hearts. Forgive me for being so involved in my little kingdom. I confess that before you. I pray that I will now walk in your ways and your will be done in my life on earth as it is in heaven, to see your will exercised in my heart, to share the truth and the love of Jesus willingly so your will be done in their lives, spiritually, socially, while we wait for the literal kingdom of God to be set up on earth eventually. And we do so for your glory in Jesus name, Amen and amen.