Sermon Tone Analysis

You might be forgiven to think that we have looked at the Disciples’ Prayer before and you’d be right.

But Jesus did not only teach it once and this was a different occasion to the first.

Remember we are trying to go through all four gospels chronologically.

The first time was in the Sermon on the Mount, this time on His journey south to Jerusalem.

If we compared this prayer with the one found in Matthew 6 we would see that Luke’s is much shorter but that is not to say that it does not ask or say the same things.

And this should remind you that there is not just one way to pray.

The two Disciples’ prayers are there as templates for prayer not for simple rote repetition that God hates.

The pattern is set to help us not to limit us.

We are not enslaved to the structure or obligated to always follow it, as for example when Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!” when he began to sink (Matthew 14:30).

If he had begun first with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come …” he would have been blowing bubbles before he got to the point!

When I first came here I preached on Asking, Seeking and Knocking knowing that we have a Father who will hear us when we pray.

And from verses 5 to 8 we can see that we should be persistent in prayer for He is greater than a friend who would not rise up to help except with persistence.

God is all the more willing to come to our aid when we need it.

And so it is that we will again look at the prayer that has been known all this time as the Lord’s Prayer though we really know that it should be called the Disciple’s Prayer as our Lord would not be able to pray it Himself for He does not need to be forgiven being sinless.

There is a particular phrase I want to give more attention to and that is: Thy Kingdom Come

Let us put it upon its proper basis:

Following Jesus is the call to self-denial and self-sacrifice.

The ego has to go, the ‘I’ has to go.

All our independence and decisions are gone.

We are no longer the Captain or Pilot or Driver.

We are no longer king of our lives but instead have another King rule over us who has a different agenda and purpose.

We, the moment we become Christians, are those who have said; “Jesus to you my knee bows for you are King over me.

You are sovereign.”

And so when we pray ‘Your Kingdom come’ we no longer set the agenda for we obey the King’s command.

This prayer is intensely personal.

In the earlier one in Matthew Jesus taught them to pray: ‘Our Father’ but here it is simply ‘Father’.

This, in Luke, is not a communal prayer said together but one we pray when we are alone.

And the word ‘Father’ is of the most intimate kind, that is; Father, or dearest Father, or Abba Father, it is extremely personal like talking with our own Dad’s.

We can come with boldness to Him just as a little child asks for ice cream without any sense of shame.

He is a loving Father who cares for His children who welcomes us into His presence.

We know that He has the resources that we do not have.

And He will not withhold the good.

Of course, with this we still have to hold Him with the utmost respect He is, after all, absolutely holy and absolutely righteous and absolutely good.

And whilst I say that this prayer is intensely personal it is in joining with others in submission to Jesus that we start to become the answer to the prayer: Your Kingdom Come.

All of history is running its course with will culminate in the reign of Christ.

But we are of those who bow the knee now rather than those who will be forced to admit who truly is the ruler of the universe.

Those who do it now will have eternal life but those who refuse will have eternal punishment.

All of Scripture attests to the fact that God is Sovereign and His Son will be the one to sit on the throne:

We have to decide which kingdom to be in for there are only two that matter: The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

The Kingdom of Light or the kingdom of darkness.

There is no other choice.

But let us also be clear that the kingdoms of the world are already a part of Satan’s kingdom.

But one day all the kingdoms will truly belong to God and His Christ.

We should not be so concerned about the kingdoms of this world for we are of royalty of a different kingdom.

For now Satan has power but soon it will be completely overruled.

The Kingdoms of this world come and go.

History bears this out.

There have been around 22 great world kingdoms that are no longer in existence today.

Once it was Macedonia, once it was Iran, once it was Mongolia, once it was Rome, once it was Russia, once it was Germany, once it was Great Britain and today there are powers on the rise but the one that is top dog for now is the USA.

And quite possibly it could be the EU or perhaps Islamic nations.

Come and go, and come and go they do.

Both the UK and USA have been undermining the Christian roots that have kept us central to world power but it is on the wane for we have also left behind the One True God.

But either way the kingdoms of this world are not the kingdom of God.

The politics may be frustrating but we are citizens of a different Kingdom.

It is God who allows the rise and fall of nations and there is nothing anyone on earth can do about it.

Except repent.

We are part of a Kingdom where One rules in the form of the Trinity.

And it is Jesus who is called King of kings and Lord of lords.

The Kingdom of God that we pray will come is the most used saying in the New Testament: The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven, meaning the same thing.

It is what Jesus preached, what John the Baptist preached and what the Apostles preached.

In fact, the whole Bible is about the Kingdom of God.

In the past we read Jesus speaking

The Kingdom is now:

And the Kingdom is also to come when Jesus comes back.

It is past, present and future.

But is it right to speak of the kingdom in this way.

Does God rule now or not?

Of course He does.

The Kingdom of God is universal.

God does already rule.

He rules over everything including the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness and all the nations for it is He who allows what happens.

God is sovereign over all.

Even Satan is ruled over and he has to submit to the will of God.

God has total power.

He created us and the universe and He also sustains it.

So, when we pray about His Kingdom to come, is that what we are praying for?

No, for He reigns supreme already and everything and everyone is subjected to Him even if they do not realise it.

So, we are not praying for this Kingdom to come so what are we praying for?

There are at least three ways that this is answered and for two of them we have responsibility to be an answer to this prayer.

What are these three ways?

Firstly, it is through salvation.

I think that some still have the idea that the Church will somehow become all powerful and cause the Kingdom of Heaven on earth but, I have to say, this is not what God had mind.

Jesus said that few will be saved.

And few will.

This does not sound like an all-encompassing Church along the lines of the Roman Catholic Church or the Anglicans.

But, what is true, is that the Kingdom of God comes every time someone comes to faith in Christ.

When we pray for the Kingdom of God to come it is praying for the salvation of souls.

Every time we pray for people to become Christians or we sing songs about going into the world and the Light of the Word shining this is praying ‘Your Kingdom come”.

Indeed we are coming up to Christmas, I am sure it is a surprise to you all(!) and we may sing:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come

Let earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

Every time someone comes to faith the Kingdom of God comes and grows.

And when we pray we are also asking God in what way can my life be used to bring people into the Kingdom of God.

And we know it is by both word and action.

It is not a shy Christian life but one asking God to make us effective for His work, as it says in:

For this indeed is the work of God who wants all to be saved.

We also know that there is a battle for the souls of people.

We are to seek first the Kingdom of God instead of everything else we need.

And part of that is being missionary minded in seeking to see people saved from this other kingdom where only darkness and pain is in store.