Jesus knows what it’s like to live within this broken world, and He knows how to pray His way through it.
In this passage from the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus is going to teach us how to pray our way through the brokenness of this life.
This sermon focuses on Matthew 6:10: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We explore four key questions:
- What is the Kingdom? The Kingdom of God is the “reign of God.” Wherever God reigns as King, there His Kingdom is. Or another way to think about it: God’s Kingdom is the realm over which He has say, and the sphere in which His will is carried out. Wherever the will of God is done, there his Kingdom is. So, when we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we’re asking that the reign of God would be established right here and right now, that the range of His effective will would extend and envelope this world, and that God would bring the rule of Heaven to earth and make everything right again. So, if we are being taught to pray “your kingdom come,” in a sense, the kingdom must be missing.
- Where has it gone? The Kingdom has been hijacked by rebels. This world, designed for beauty under the Kingdom Rule of God, was hijacked by Satan and has fallen under his dominion. And we’re part of the rebellion. Every time we disregard what God says and choose to do what we want instead, and we ratify the rebellion. We desperately need God’s Kingdom, but when will it come?
- When will it come? In one sense, it never really left, because the Kingdom is forever. What this means is that the Kingdom has come, the Kingdom is coming now, and the Kingdom is yet to come, all at the same time. In other words, the Kingdom of God has always been here, has come already in Jesus, is coming even now, and it yet to come. And all of it is on God’s timetable.
- Why pray for it? If God’s going to do what God’s going to do, and the Kingdom won’t come until Jesus returns, and we can’t hurry him along, then why should we pray for God’s Kingdom to come? When we do this, we’re praying on 3 levels: your kingdom come in me, your kingdom come through me, and your kingdom come take over.
Takeaway: “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
- Wherever You are revered as Holy, the world becomes whole.
- Whenever you are acknowledged as King, everything finds its rightful place.
- Whoever surrenders to your will finds abundant life and freedom.
Matthew 6:10
Living the Message episode available here: https://youtu.be/hceIr7c3BqY
Questions about the sermon can be emailed to livingthemessage@moodychurch.org.
