Getting Connected with God: Who s in Charge? Matthew 6:10 The Lord's Prayer, part 2

Transcription

1 Calvary Presbyterian Church Pastor Lynell Caudillo February 28, 2016 Getting Connected with God: Who s in Charge? Matthew 6:10 The Lord's Prayer, part 2 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. One day I went to visit my friend, Helen. That particular day she was caring for her 4 year old granddaughter. Helen invited me in and introduced us. Her granddaughter paused from playing. She was dressed in royal fashion, wearing a long fancy dress and a sparkling crown upon her head. Helen said: "Camile, this is my friend, Lynell. Lynell, this is my granddaughter Camile." Camile looked up and without breaking character said: "You may call me 'Your Highness'!" She put me in my place! Such role-playing is cute in a 4 year old, but in a 45-year old? The Chicago Tribune reported a story about Kevin Baugh, a 45 year old father of two who is a micro-nationalist, a do-it-yourself-nation builder who has raised his own flag over his front yard and has declared himself king over the Kingdom of Me. His own country, which he has named the Republic of Molossia, is located outside of Dayton, Nevada. According to this article, he has a space program (a model rocket), a currency (pegged to the value of chocolate chip cookie dough), a railroad (model size), a national sport (broom ball), and in his land-locked desert community, a navy (an inflatable boat). Reportedly, he prefers that people address him as His/Your Excellency, Kevin Baugh, as he wears an impressive khaki uniform replete with medals, gold braid, epaulets, and a brightly colored sash. ( One Nation, Under Me by Colleen Mastony, Chicago Tribune, 07/03/08) It s all intended as a joke. The only problem is that the truth of it can hit pretty close to home. By far the majority of us do not go that far, the uniform, etc. but if we are honest, we have deluded ourselves into thinking that we rule over our own household/family/career, and believe that we have control over our lives to some degree or another. So though we may think we rule over our own little kingdoms, the truth of it is, God reigns. Jesus taught us to pray that God's reign or rule would come on earth, as it is in heaven. What are we really praying for when we pray this prayer?? 1

2 There are at least four different understandings of "kingdom" among biblical scholars. Briefly we will take a look at each one. First, is the understanding that the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are synonymous. When we pray this prayer, we pray for a complete end to human history as we know it and for the coming of the new heavens and new earth to become a reality. John describes this vision in Revelation 21: 1, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. This, then, is a prayer of eager expectation related to the second coming of Jesus! And so one is praying "Maran-atha", Come Lord Jesus! A second understanding is that this prayer means we ask for God's Kingdom to come in our hearts". This is a very personalized way of understanding this petition. In this understanding, we pray that God s rule is present in the hearts of believers. We trust that God's rule and God's will can be done by you and by me, as Jesus' disciples. We know that our hearts and wills are often self-centered rather than Christ or Kingdom centered, so we pray that God can change our hearts and desires to reflect His own. A third understanding has to do with history--that is to say that God's Kingdom is made known on earth through disciples who, when Christ rules in their hearts, they/we take action in the world. Such action conveys the character of God and demonstrates God's justice, peace, mercy and love. The danger in this point of view is that we can begin to think that our part in "ushering in" the Kingdom of God is greater than it is. In other words, it is God's Kingdom and it is God who is at the heart of it, not well-meaning human activity. The fourth understanding of the Kingdom is related to the WORD of God. That is to say, when we pray "Thy Kingdom Come" we are praying for the increase of the Word of God in the world, as the indispensable means by which the kingdom is now present at all. For Christ becomes king of our hearts, and King in history wherever the Word of God is faithfully preached and obeyed. We must be doers of the word, not hearers only! During early 1999, rebels terrorized Freetown, Sierra Leone, murdering people, burning houses, and destroying the city. One evening the soldiers entered the neighborhood where Pastor J. E. Modupe Taylor-Pearce lived. They demanded that the terrified people come out of their houses. He went outside and stood by a gate. The following is his firsthand account: 2

3 One rebel took his bayonet and pricked my stomach. "Do you own this house?" he asked. "Well, I live here," I said. As they marched me toward the back of my house, I told their colonel, "I am a pastor." He sneered, "You political pastors!" He pulled out his gun, cocked it, and pressed it against my chest. "I feel like executing you now!" I smiled and said, "But Jesus loves you! I want you to know the love of God. I want to pray for you." "March on!" he ordered. As I opened the door to my house, I gently called, "Darling, we have visitors." I turned to the rebels and said, "Won't you come in?" As he entered the house, the colonel raised his gun toward my wife. "I will shoot!" I grabbed his arm and said, "Don't shoot!" He calmed down. I said, "I want you to know that Jesus loves you, and I want to pray the Lord's Prayer. Would you mind?" "Feel free," he said. I quickly prayed. The colonel asked, "Do you have food?" Olive brought rice and stew for the colonel and his assistant to eat. I kept telling the colonel about Jesus. He stood there, deep in thought. Then he asked defiantly, "Can your God forgive me? Can you pray to your God to forgive me?" I told him: "Two thousand years from today you and I both will be alive. The question is, 'Where will you be? Will you be in heaven or hell?' Yes, my God is able to forgive you." The colonel lowered his gun and sat down. "Don't you know that I am responsible for burning houses? If I say, 'That house goes,' it goes. If I say, 'That house stays,' it stays." When the colonel got up to leave, I said: 3

4 "No, I don't want you to go. I want to pray for you first. What shall I pray for?" "Pray that I will have a long life and good health," he said. "Please kneel on the floor in reverence to God," I said. Everyone knelt on the floor as I prayed fervently. Afterward, as the rebels prepared to leave, I said, "We have a Bible study in our home every Monday evening. Join us." Then they left. I never saw either of them again. Within a week our street was liberated by the West African Regional Force. But during the week after the colonel's visit and before the liberation, the rebels returned to burn homes and create more havoc in our neighborhood. People told me the colonel had said to the rebels when they came to our house, "You must save that house. Don't burn that one." I believe that God spared me from death so I may continue to proclaim the gospel. One of the best messages I ever presented was to the colonel and his assistant. (Christian Reader, May/June 2002) With this petition we are urged to pray for pastors and missionaries, who are proclaiming God's kingdom so they may do so with conviction and fidelity, as faithful witnesses. We must pray especially for those like Pastor J who labor in areas where Christians are persecuted for their faith. It is no coincidence that the message proclaimed by John the Baptist, along with the message first proclaimed by Jesus at the very start of his public ministry, and the one message Jesus gave the 12 when he sent them out on their first mission trip each and every one of these proclaimed an identical message: The Kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the Good News! In the final analysis, the kingdom of God is the King himself: God's messianic kingdom is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son. And Jesus Christ is present to us in the infinite richness of the Word of God, the Bible. And so there is a tension between the already and the not yet that is to say, the Kingdom is already near us as we seek to live out the Gospel as subjects of the King, and the Kingdom is not yet come in all its fullness. This will occur only when Christ returns in glory to establish His Kingdom and rule on a renewed earth. Furthermore we pray, THY WILL BE DONE. More often than not, as a young adult believer, the matter of how to know God s will for my life choosing a life partner, choosing a career, etc. seemed a mystery. However, as I ve grown both as a believer and as a person, I ve come to know that 4

5 by far, the majority of God s will is NOT mysterious. It is clearly revealed in the pages of scripture. And even there, it is not obscure or hidden. For instance, the Ten Commandments are pretty straight forward, are they not? Make God number One; worship no one else. Respect God s name. Keep the Sabbath. Honor parents. Don t kill/honor life. Don t commit adultery/be a faithful spouse. Don t steal or bear false witness. Don t covet anything of your neighbors. No mystery there! God s desires for us are pretty clear. Similarly in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaching is also very clear. This is a prayer that everything that Jesus has taught us (in the Sermon on the Mount) would be put into effect. We thus pray that God the Father will do his will, that God will supply the power for his will to happen on earth. How God does this is not the focus, only that God is the primary actor in accomplishing this. God does not NEED us, but God often chooses to use us as his agents of justice, mercy, love. Another way to understand this is to hear afresh the voice of the Father when the Son is baptized: "This is my very dear son; I am deeply pleased with him; listen to HIM." The Father's will is for us to listen to, and to obey the Son. "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Having once been invited into a very personal and intimate relationship with God "OUR FATHER", this second reference to heaven reminds us of the cosmic implications of this prayer and the Infinite One to whom we pray it. God's concerns are very personal, as a father for each one of his children, and here, God's concerns are also global. The Lord teaches us to pray with confidence: This prayer embraces the whole earth. "For Jesus did not at all say "Thy will be done in me, or in us, but everywhere on earth! (Chrysostom). "As in heaven" teaches us (again) that there is an unseen reality in which heavenly beings (angels) and believers, as parts of the church Triumphant, are perfectly obedient to God. In heaven, God's name is respected, God s will is freely done with joy, and God s rule is embraced. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like a treasure worth selling everything one has, in order to possess. It is like a precious pearl, or like a tiny seed buried in the ground that grows and grows into a huge tree that shelters birds. The kingdom is like a great feast to which everyone is invited, but no one wants to attend. Go figure! 5

6 But above all, John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and the message Jesus gave his twelve disciples to proclaim was simply this: The Kingdom of God is near. It is at hand! It is so close that sometimes it almost reaches out and takes us by the hand. Furthermore, Jesus says elsewhere that in God s perfect time at a time known only to the Father human beings will no longer be in charge of the world. At that moment, God s kingdom will be realized on earth as it is in heaven. At that moment, it will be a time for wild rejoicing like a real get-out-of-jail-free card, or being cured of cancer! Finally, and at long last, it will be for those who believe, like truly coming home. Let us pray: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven. 6