Your Kingdom Come
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Dearly loved people of God,
This series of sermons assumes that you want to learn to talk to God. It’s good that Jesus took time to talk about prayer, because when you think about it, praying is an odd activity.
· So we fold our hands and close our eyes and address our words to God who is close by, but usually remains unseen.
· Or as we’re driving along, we keep our eyes peeled and talk to the King of kings and Lord of lords as if he was beside us in the buddy seat of the tractor.
· Or we stand up tall in the middle of the room, throw our arms out wide, and lift our voice to the heavens.
What do you say?
How do you address the Creator and Redeemer of the Universe?
· Jesus invites us to call his father, “our Father in heaven.”
· We honour God for his majesty and holiness, by asking that his name be revered, respected, glorified, praised – in a word, that his name be “hallowed.”
Then, before we make more personal requests, Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come.
C.S. Lewis talked about the gospel as a true fairy-tale. We are the damsel in distress. The church is the bride of Christ, and she is in trouble.
Our first parents were lured into captivity with the fruit that “was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.” When our first mother ate of that fruit and gave some to her husband and he ate, they were sent into exile. Their sin and guilt cut them off from God and from each other. That’s the situation we’ve inherited.
God has a problem with us. Our sin and guilt cut us off from God. The penalty for sin is death: physical death, but also an eternity separated from all God’s goodness, grace, and glory.
We can’t succeed in the quest that would set us free, for our heart is not pure, our arm isn’t strong enough. Our sin is all-pervasive. Even our best deeds are tainted and unworthy.
If no one would rescue us we’d perish in sin. God is just and righteous. It is not in his nature to ignore disobedience.
But there is a king, a champion from far, far away, who heard of our distress and came to our rescue. His heart is pure and he has the strength to endure a life of trials and countless temptation. Jesus’ quest was a life of love and compassion. In word and deed, he showed what his kingdom was all about: loving God and loving neighbour, even at the cost of his own life.
Our hero and king endured suffering, both physical torment on the cross AND the horror of being cut off from God the Father’s goodness, grace, and glory. Death did not conquer this king. Although he died and was buried, Jesus was victorious over sin and death when he rose from the grave.
Jesus’ victory means that he has rescued us, the damsel in distress. In the fullness of time, our rescuer gets to marry the princess. The day is coming when the king shall return and all who live by faith in Christ will reign with our prince happily ever after! That is the fairy-tale ending that we’re praying for.
· In this petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we express all our longing for God’s Kingdom to come and for his rule to be recognized. It’s a prayer that the work begun in John the Baptist and in Jesus, their announcement that “the kingdom of God is near” that God will complete it!
· It’s a confession that the world would be a much better place if all people lived like Christ – motivated by love, by grace, by truth, in short: as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven . . . on earth.
o This request is about who is on the throne of our heart. Inside each Christian, there is disputed territory as we await King Jesus’ return. There’s an on-going struggle between allegiance to Christ and rebellion, that we cannot win unassisted.
o When we pray, “your Kingdom to come,” we’re praying that God will rule every part of our heart, our ambitions, and our imagination as lord and king. It’s a request that God the HS help us root our dissent and rebellion within ourselves.
· If Jesus was recognized and honoured as king of all creation, the world would be so much better. So we pray that the rebellion and dissent against God in our households, businesses, neighbourhoods, and community will be quelled. It’s not a bloodthirsty prayer for rebels to be destroyed, but a request that all our neighbours be restored to proper relationship with God as gently as God rescued us. Loving Father, may your kingdom come next door, throughout the neighbourhood, and across the province . . .
That day is coming. Praying, “your kingdom come,” gives expression to our longing, our yearning, for Christ’s rescue and reign to sweep the whole world off their feet!
In a way it’s a lament that things are not the way they ought to be. It’s an urgent cry that God will set things straight. This is our request for Shalom to break out all over the place because Jesus reigns over all.
I spent some of time in the hospital as chaplain this week. You don’t recognize when you drive down Rolph St. most days, but behind those walls, on each floor, there are tragedies and disasters happening. Miracles too, but many important chapters of peoples’ lives. It’s not just the brokenness of injury and disease, but the accompanying messy relationships and broken hearts. That’s NOT the way it’s supposed to be!
Walking through each ward a person could pray, “Your Kingdom come.” In each situation, that restoration, healing of disease and brokenness, restoration of relationships, the ability to call God – enthroned in all his glory and holiness – “Our Father in heaven.” The restoration of all relationship to how it’s supposed to be – that’s our prayer.
We know it’s possible. Most of us gather here for worship because we’ve tasted something of that restoration, something of that healing, something of God’s shalom and are longing for more. We know what it is to be rescued from the burning tower; what it is to yearn and long for the fullness of God’s kingdom, the day when the bride of Christ will come together with Christ, on that great wedding day.
In some ways, we’re counting down the days to God’s kingdom coming in all it’s fullness. Because we’ve tasted the goodness of the Lord, we long for and pray for all people to share in that experience. We pray fervently for God’s Kingdom to come.
All of that brings us to . This is a celebration song. It’s a celebration of God’s rule and his Kingdom. The sons of Korah didn’t know as much of God’s plan for restoration as we do. They didn’t know anything of God coming in the flesh to redeem his lost people. But they got a taste of it.
Maybe it was the celebration of a great victory; maybe a royal anniversary, but they celebrated that God is the King. They looked forward to the day when all nations would clap their hands and celebrate God’s reign. This is not the sullen admission of defeat of a conquered army, this is the joyful celebration of people who have been rescued from slavery by their overlord and proper ruler.
The nobles of the nations are assembling with God’s covenant people. They’re united in singing praises to the King of all the earth. This sounds like a celebration of Jesus’ victory.
As we pray, “your kingdom come,” we look forward to the day when describes the celebration of God’s reign over all nations. Let’s finish our meditation on God’s Word by hearing again.