Sermon: The Lord's Prayer - Series 1

Purpose – Matthew 6: 10

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

Today begins a short series on what we know as the Lord’s prayer – but should probably more accurately be referred to as “the disciples’ prayer’. I wonder whether you’ve ever asked the question ‘Why am I here?’ You might well be asking yourself that right now – like why on earth did I have to get up so early? – but that’s not what I’m talking about; What am I here in this world for? What’s the purpose of my life? 

It’s an uncomfortable thing to ask – it’s something most people would avoid thinking about. But how we live and the decisions we make in life will depend on how we answer it.

Most American school kids can recite the beginning of the 1776 Declaration of Independence off by heart. It states that among humanity’s unalienable rights (can you remember them?) are ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ – I’m not sure the Founding Fathers had in mind our modern, consumerist take on these, but these so-called ‘rights’ have become the guiding principle for most people – they’re behind the desperate hunt for happiness and personal pleasure – the seeking of personal comforts and gratification through shopping, sex, food, leisure, holidays. And yet – as J. John says in a book called God’s Priorities that I’ve used to help me with this series – “By general admission it is all so unsatisfying. Is all this, you ask yourself at the end of another long day, why I work – just to shop, to buy stuff. Is that all I am? – a consumer? What happened to my hopes, my deep desires, my destiny? 

Well this ‘disciples’ prayer cuts to the basis of what life is all about – and let’s remember right from the outset, that this is a prayer for those in a relationship with a loving heavenly parent – OUR FATHER -  who desires for his children the absolute best - God who cares so much for us, who knows us intimately - precisely. And that giving God pride of place in our lives is the key to the abundant life he wants for us.– hallowed be thy name. 

So this next phrase of the Lord’s Prayer – “May your kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven” – deals with both our purpose and the world’s. Words that are so familiar – trotted out – but what do they mean? Let’s have a look

First what did Jesus mean by the ‘Kingdom of God’?

Even just flicking through the pages of the first 3 gospels (Matthew Mark and Luke) you’ll read lots or references to the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven – this was a central part of Jesus’ teaching. This is where we need the help of the Old Testament to really get the significance. You’ve heard this before but let’s recap a little. The Lord God – “Yahweh” was Israel’s King – although he allowed a series of human monarchs to act on his behalf – it was his reign and rule that they needed, often rebelling and getting things hopelessly wrong the further they got away from his direction (nothing different from us there!). If you think about it their own attempts at ruling – with a few exceptions, like David, were pretty useless – and you’ll remember that after the defeat of Jerusalem in  586 BC - they were all dragged off into exile in the foreign land of Babylon – and the line of earthly kings came to an end. But you’ll also remember that the prophets had spoken consistently of a future Ruler – the Messiah – descended from David’s line – often talked about in mysterious terms – human but also Godlike – who would rule the world from Jerusalem. So by the time Jesus came onto the scene the Jewish people had suffered centuries of heavy-handed oppression by foreigners – and there was widespread hunger for God’s deliverance – for both God’s King and God’s kingdom. But most of the people were only able to see this in physical and nationalistic terms – in terms of a political figure who would reclaim the land that had been lost to the Roman invaders. Which explains why all their talk about this Messiah-deliverer excited them and alarmed the occupying Romans.

Now why the recap? Well without understanding this popular view we can’t really understand Jesus’ teaching and people’s reaction to it. 

Jesus seems to have had 2 purposes in mind. On the one hand he wanted to make it completely clear that he was indeed God’s King – and that he was the One who was ushering in a whole new state of affairs – a new reign and rule. But on the other hand he wanted to make it equally plain that his kingship and the kingdom he offered was NOT what so many of the Jews longed for – or indeed what the Romans dreaded – although they couldn’t fault the early Christians’ behaviour – but that’s another story for another time. 

God’s kingdom, ushered in by King Jesus, his Son is not about a place, a country or any kind of geographical region. It’s not a political state, or even an organization. And you’re not going to find it in on a map or in an Atlas

The kingdom is wherever God is King; wherever God’s rule is accepted in the lives of men and women; wherever people allow God to enter their lives through his Holy Spirit; wherever people say to Jesus ‘Let your will be done, not mine.  

Now let’s be honest. Do we pray this kind of prayer with any relish? “Thy - your - will be done…because that’s what it means?” 

Back in 1994 Disney released a movie called "Iron Will." It’s the story about a teenager named Will Stoneman who enters a marathon dog-sled race from Winnipeg, Canada to St. Paul, Minnesota. Will’s father had just died leaving the family in dire financial straights, so he enters the race to save his family. He gets the nickname "Iron Will" because he just won’t quit, as he battles the winter elements, 5OO odd miles of the most difficult terrain, people who don’t believe he can finish the race, and fiercely competitive racers – thugs who cheat. "Iron Will" is a play on his name, because he demonstrates that he has an iron will by persevering and finishing the race. Great movie by the way

Good film - but the idea of a dogged and, unyielding "iron will" describes the way lots of people think about God’s will. People imagine that God’s will is like iron, that it’s inflexible and unbending. So when a lot of people think about God’s will, they often think about it with resignation. It’s the well-meaning friend saying, "I suppose it was God’s will" to a grieving wife at her husband’s funeral after his battle with cancer. It’s the 3rd year university student during final exams as he says, "It must be God’s will" when his fiancée breaks up with him. It’s the troubled married couple throwing up their hands in desperation and saying, "It must be God’s will" because they can’t see any way through their problems and issues. We figure that if anyone has an iron will, it must be God. 

But the Bible clearly teaches that God’s will – his desire for the people he loves - is often frustrated by us Not that God somehow lacks the power to fulfil his will, but that he chooses to work out his purposes in a way that respects the will of human beings – you and me. I’ve been so challenged by this paradox recently – that He’s a God who waits for our response to him – that in Christ God allowed himself to be “done to”…to be acted upon – we’ll be remembering his Passion in Holy Week: that although God is certainly powerful enough to overrule human freedom at any moment, he chooses to hand that over, that we might choose to follow him

This is not an unbending, kill-joy God. His Kingdom, his ways, his reign and rule are a delight. When someone comes to personal faith in the Lord Jesus – when that new birth happens – underneath the surface the believer has now acquired a whole new set of loyalties and priorities, because they’ve been delivered from a kingdom of darkness and brought into a kingdom of light. This is the Gospel - good news – and Jesus frequently uses images, pictures of banquets, parties and wine drinking to describe heaven. This is something not to be missed. Sometimes we seem to imagine that telling people about Jesus is a bit like advising them to go to the dentist. 

But as well as being a delight, it’s a Kingdom that makes demands. It’s actually not about what we eat or drink but about living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit as Paul sums it up at the end of his letter to the Roman Christians. It’s not about fancy talk – but living by God’s power. And let’s not make any mistake – the God of this Kingdom is holy - to be hallowed – so those who do wrong will have no share in his Kingdom (that’s to the Corinthians),  

The Church is called to live out kingdom values in the world.  I’m going to keep on saying this: this is not about privatized spirituality, it’s not just about church, and it’s not just the clergy’s work alone. This is about feeding poor people, befriending lonely men and women, visiting prisoners, working for a better, fairer, cleaner future for Jesus’ sake. “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – there’s nowhere from which the kingdom is to be excluded – no little patch over which the devil can claim unlimited sovereignty – no off-limits places in our lives.

Yes it is about looking to the coming of the future King – we’re not there yet. But we need to ‘get’ just how radical the changes need to be if he is to be our King.  

It’s like inviting Jesus into our home – opening the door and saying he can take charge. We hope that he’s going to be contented to straighten the pictures in the living room and puff up the cushions a little. We can live with that. But when he gets out the plans that make it clear that he fully intends to modify the whole house - hmm; that he wants to fling open cupboards, throw some old stuff out, knock down walls and spring-clean locked rooms that haven’t been touched in years – oh boy – that’s a different matter.

--Praying this prayer – not just saying it – means giving Jesus the freedom to take charge.  

As we journey together this Lent let’s let him scrutinize those areas of our lives where his influence is minimal – if we’re honest. Our relationships, our work, our leisure activities – how we think about our career hopes and plans, how we use our money. What are we here for? To work together that our world might bow the knee to this humble King; that the values of our world would include love, justice, truth, peace – that the devil’s kingdom with its greed, envy, hate, violence, darkness and abuse will be defeated. So Let’s pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen