Some of us have prayed the Lord’s Prayer so often that it is hard to think about what it really means. So today, as we consider the second part of that wonderful prayer, we will consider some of the things we should be thinking about as we say these familiar words.
MATTHEW 6:10: “THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”
INTRODUCTION
Jesus warned us against heaping up empty phrases when we pray. We aren’t heard for our many words but for the desire in our heart for God as we pray.
In these messages we are thinking about what each sentence in this great prayer means, so that as we pray it we may really lift up our hearts to God.
Last time we talked about the first part of the Lord’s Prayer—“Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.”
Now we continue with: “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
I. “THY KINGDOM COME…”
A. God’s kingdom is God’s sovereign and saving rule.
Jesus’ earthly life was the first stage of the inbreaking kingdom of God.
Jesus’ death and resurrection was a further stage.
B. But the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God is not yet, and it is this fulfillment of God’s kingdom we are praying for when we use the Lord’s Prayer.
A common early Christian prayer was “Maranatha,” a word in Jesus’ own language that means, “Our Lord Come.”
When our Lord Jesus returns to earth, he will bring his kingly reign to all the world. And then, as the Bible says, “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
That is what we are asking for when we say, “Thy kingdom come…” in the Lord’s Prayer.
C. This is not just a pious wish. My prayers and your prayers are actually bringing in God’s kingdom.
It is startling to think that my prayers may help bring about God’s worldwide rule.
But we believe that God has taken his people into partnership with him to work his will in the earth. I may participate in the work of God by acts of mercy and justice, by telling the gospel—and also by prayer.
The united prayer of God’s people helps bring in God’s kingdom.
II. “THY WILL BE DONE…”
A. God doesn’t always get his way on earth. His will in not always done here.
A many dreadful things happen that break God’s heart.
The world is full of wars and hatred and strife and cruelty.
The world is also full of pain and sickness and disasters of all kinds.
Because you and I are sinners, God’s will is often not done in your and my life.
B. When we pray, “Thy will be done,” we are asking that God may have his way in my life and your life and in the lives of everyone who God loves and who Jesus died for.
We are asking that God will redeem this sad old world.
When God’s kingdom comes and his will is done, wars, earthquakes, disease, death, hatred will become a thing of the past.
We read in the Bible that the whole creation waits with eager longing to be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:19).
C. So when I pray that God’s kingdom come and his will be done, I are praying for our world, but I am also praying for myself, that God’s kingdom will come and his will will be done in my life.
I am praying that God will free me from the power of sin and that he will fill me with love and righteousness and goodness.
Here is a prayer that I use. It comes from St. Francis of Assisi:
“God Almighty,
eternal righteous, and merciful,
give to us poor sinners
to do all for your sake
all that we know of your will
and to will always what pleases you;
so that inwardly purified, enlightened,
and kindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
we may follow in the footprints
of your well-beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ.”
III. “…ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”
“Heaven” is what we call the dwelling place of God.
People think heaven is somewhere in the sky.
But heaven is the realm in which God dwells and where his will is always done.
Heaven is not this world; heaven is a different universe from ours.
God’s companions in his heavenly realm are the holy angels and the saints in glory.
And the holy angels and the saints in glory always do the will of God.
The promise of God is that someday earth and heaven will be united and all the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord because heaven and earth will be one.
We will all be united with all the redeemed and with the angels to do God’s serve and worship God always and forever.
CONCLUSION
In this second part of the Lord’s Prayer we remind ourselves that we are not our own and that our purpose on earth is not to please ourselves but to do God’s will.
We remind ourselves that we have a part in bringing about God’s purposes on earth.
It would be wrong for me to pray this prayer if I am unwilling to let God work in my life to help answer it.
Maybe you can’t preach. Maybe you’re no good at soul-winning. But we serve God together. We all have something to do. All of God’s people have a part in God’s great purpose of bringing the world to himself. It’s something we do together.
I can give. I can pray. I can encourage others.
I can be a channel through which some little portion of God’s kindness and goodness may reach the lives nearest my own.
You will never know until you are home with Jesus, the lives you have touched or the part you have played in bringing God’s kingdom to fulfillment.
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