Your Kingdom Come - Matthew 6:5-15

I'm gonna lead us in prayer and ask you to join me in praying the Lord's prayer at the end. Let's bow our heads.

Lord Jesus, we want you to be more famous in our lives, famous in our city, famous in our neighborhoods. We want Jesus to be worshiped and adored and treasured. We want our city more and more to reflect the kingship of Jesus, not because of a political agenda or a top down moral reformation, but because of inside out transformation of our hearts and the hearts of our neighbors, of the very relationships in our church to bring ripple effects in our families and in our neighborhoods, in our colleges, in our townhomes, in our block, and in our city.

Lord, we pray this day that you would move us and change us, reshape us so that we might become the most effective tools in your hands for your kingdom to come and your will to be done. Father, we also lay before you this coronavirus and the spike that we're seeing, and we ask, father, for your power. We pray, father, you who are king over all creation, to bring an end to the suffering and death. And, Lord, we pray, father, that you would preserve your church and preserve us.

And, Lord, we pray these things as we pray the words that Jesus taught us to pray.

Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

We're gonna continue our sermon series on the Lord's Prayer that we just prayed. I'll read from Matthew chapter six verses five through 15 from the ESV, if you'd like to follow along as I read aloud. These are Jesus' words from the sermon on the mount.

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. — Matthew 6:5-15

This is the word of the Lord.

The Resurgence of Superheroes

I've been thinking about superheroes a lot. Superheroes have made such a resurgence in the American consciousness in the last ten, fifteen years with all the Marvel movies, and before that, some of the DC movies. But superheroes first appeared in American culture in 1938 with the launch of DC Comics and Superman being the first superhero, and then what became Marvel Comics in 1939.

And if you think about it, that was a time in American history filled with much fear and anxiety and pressure. America had come through World War One and the Spanish flu and the Great Depression, and now there was another looming power on the horizon, Hitler and Nazi Germany. So it's no surprise there was the creation of the genre of superheroes at the time. Take Captain America. The idea that there is a soldier who's gonna fight and fight and fight and always defend—doesn't that stir something in the American consciousness during that time?

I think there's something about a superhero that pulls at something deep within us, deep within our hearts. Especially in times of suffering and hardship, just like right now. We long for the world to be fixed. We long for someone with lots of power to swoop in and fix the problems. We long for us to become that kind of super person who can fix those problems and make the world right.

Your Kingdom Come

Thinking of superheroes reminds me of this part of the Lord's prayer. Now stick with me on this. The petition that Jesus teaches us that we're looking at today, as we look at this model prayer that Jesus gives us as his disciples to learn to pray to God the Father. This model prayer has this petition: Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's what we're gonna focus on today.

And in those phrases are some of the same longings. Lord, we long for the world to be fixed. We want your kingdom to come, your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We want some super person, some superman to swoop in and make things right. We want your kingdom to come. And this whole prayer points us to a bigger truth: instead of superheroes, God invites us into those very things.

Here's my big idea for today: God has designed this universe to run on the prayers of his people. God has made the universe—it's hardwired to run, in the mystery of his will, on the prayers of his people.

Let's look at these two petitions that I'm treating together today. First, "your kingdom come." When we pray, "your kingdom come," of course, we're praying, "God, you're king and you have a kingdom."

This summer, just the last couple weeks, our summer art guild studied the life of Daniel and Daniel's interaction with Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar has this dream that Daniel interprets—a great statue with a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and feet of clay. This statue is a picture, a vision of the world's kingdoms that have come and gone. And in this dream, Daniel prophesies that a small pebble is going to come and break up the statue, destroy it and topple every other world empire.

So in the Lord's Prayer, what we're praying for is that little pebble. We're praying for God's kingdom to come. God is concerned about government, and he has made his choice. History is the story of the rise of kings and kingdoms and the fall of kings and kingdoms, and God has made his choice for his world leader: his own son. We're praying for that kingdom to come.

It sounds very simple, but when we understand Jesus, we understand it's not that simple. Because when Jesus came, he announced, "The kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God has come near you," and he speaks over and over as if the kingdom of God is already present. He says things like this:

If it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come near you. — Matthew 12:28

His kingdom came with all kinds of superhero-like actions and miracles—healings of the blind and the lame, casting out demons, raising the dead. Jesus points to these things to show: yes, my kingdom is now. Jesus Christ is king now.

If you read the book of Revelation, at the end we see a picture of Jesus, and on his thigh and on his vestments is a name: "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." The Bible also tells us:

If you are a follower of Jesus, you have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his son whom he loves. — Colossians 1:13

Jesus tells us:

The kingdom of God is within you. — Luke 17:21

So wherever we go as followers of Christ, the kingdom of God is there. Wherever we are, the kingdom of God is with us.

Yet and yet, Jesus' kingdom is not here in its fullness. That's why Jesus taught parables right before he went to the cross about his second coming, about the coming of his kingdom in fullness. He told these parables about being ready, about waiting on the kingdom. He told us about using this life and our talents as we wait for the kingdom. And even the last book of Revelation ends with this cry:

Maranatha—come, Lord Jesus, in your fullness. — Revelation 22:20

Have you ever seen the sunrise in the morning? What's happening when the sun rises? You see light first on the dawn way before you see the bright orange of the sun. And that is a great picture for us of how the first coming of Jesus and the coming of his kingdom into our lives is like the light that comes predawn before the sun fully rises on the horizon.

Jesus' dawn has begun already in the hearts and lives of his people. His kingdom has already begun. The predawn light is shining in my life and in your life if you're a follower of Jesus. And yet we know this isn't daylight yet—the sun has not risen. It's not here quite yet.

Make no mistake: the king is the one who causes his sun to rise, his kingdom to come in fullness. He is the one who brings and builds his kingdom. He doesn't need us to do it. And yet, this is what's odd about this prayer: he chooses to use us, the instrumentality of his people, in bringing his kingdom. And here's the vital link: our prayers.

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that his kingdom would come in a way that is not yet here. He teaches us that through prayer, God has made the universe to run on the instrumentality of the prayers of his people. Now this is mystical. This is a mystery that God does this, but I want you to picture a car.

Picture a car. Let's say Jesus has built this car from the ground up—the tires, the chassis, the engine, the battery, the seats, the steering column, the brakes. It's all in place, and it looks all ready to go.

And yet, the battery cables are not connected to the battery. The car is not able to start up and start moving. If you could picture this, this is how Jesus teaches us about prayer and his kingdom—that he hands believers, followers of Jesus, the battery cables. And through our prayers, he connects the power. That's why he teaches us to pray for the kingdom. That's why he teaches us to pray, send forth your harvest workers. So when we pray, your kingdom come, Lord Jesus, here's what we're praying.

We're praying for Jesus to become famous. The phrase "your kingdom come" parallels the same construction with "hallowed be your name." When we pray your kingdom would come, we're praying that his name would be prized and praised. We pray that his kingdom would become, and his fame and renown would be throughout our neighborhoods, and our city, and North Carolina, and our nation, and the world, that he would be the hope of the nations.

It means we pray for specific people to prize and praise Jesus Christ. We want lost people to be found. We want people that you love and people that I love who don't yet love Jesus to love him, to bow the knee, to come to Christ. We pray, Lord, your kingdom come. We pray for the goodness of his reign to spread and to penetrate into all the areas of darkness in our world. All that's broken, all that's wrong, all that's unjust, all that's untrue. We want Jesus' influence and power and dominion over all those things.

We're very acquainted with heartbreak, untruths, misery, unkept promises, shattered lives, and we pray, Lord, we want your kingdom to come. We're praying, Lord, you're the one, Jesus. You're the one the word tells us that on your shoulders, the government is on your shoulders, and when your government comes fully on your shoulders, things are gonna be different. We long for that. And in light of this, we also pray and we hasten the coming of the day when he comes back to put all things right.

The Wakanda Example

Back to superheroes. Black Panther is the story about a kingdom that's hidden and yet very powerful. It's a story about a nation, Wakanda, a hidden kingdom in Africa that has this incredible resource, vibranium, which can be used either as a weapon or for the healing of the nations, for all kinds of good. But here's the thing: Wakanda has kept those resources hidden and for themselves for years and years.

The plot of the movie is really driven by the tension between two characters who both agree that Wakanda cannot remain isolated forever. It needs to come out of the shadows. One character, Killmonger, wants to use it by force. The other, T'Challa, who's Black Panther, wants to use it for good, for the healing of the nations. But both of them recognize this.

I think that Wakanda is like many Christians. We have this power, and it's hidden. We've sort of kept it to ourselves. But to pray, your kingdom come, is to recognize, Lord, you want your kingdom not just for us. It's too good to keep to ourselves. There's too much good that needs to be spread and sent. And, of course, the fictitious hidden nation of Wakanda has no real power, and no nation has power compared to the real kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the real King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

But here's my question: Are we praying for this? Do we long for this? Is there something in us which is like, yes, please? Isn't this moment one that makes us long for that more?

Praying this prayer, your kingdom come, is gonna require from us a Holy Spirit imagination, and I think that's hard for us. I think we pray timid, safe prayers because we're not used to seeing God's power. We're fearful we're gonna be disappointed and let down again. We don't pray big, hairy, audacious prayers because, to be truthful, we're kind of cynical sometimes about our king and about his kingdom.

See, are we praying like Jesus has handed us the battery cables? This kingdom is coming, and I'm asking you, disciples, will you pray for it? Will you desire it? Will you imagine it? Will you long for it? Yes, Lord Jesus. Your kingdom come.

Your Will Be Done

Second part of this petition, and I'm keeping these together—I know that not everybody does this, but I think these overlap nicely: Your kingdom come. Your will be done.

It's really strange, and I know probably some of you are already thinking about this. It's strange to pray for God's will to be done because Scripture, in many cases, is quite clear that God's will, at least in some sense, is always done.

The Lord works all things according to the counsel of His will. — Ephesians 1

Our God is in heaven. He does as He pleases. — Psalm 115

He is the one who is in charge of all things. We have this doctrine in our theology about God's decrees that comes from this—that God decrees whatsoever comes to pass. And for the most part, this is hidden from us.

We don't always understand why history unfolds the way it does, but God is in control of the world. That's what's being held out for us. Now a lot of people struggle with this idea. What if God has a will, if God knows everything, if he already knows what he's going to do, then what difference does it make if I pray? Why should I pray? Does prayer actually change anything?

We've said it's true. Numbers 23, God is not a man that he should change his mind. What good is prayer? Can I change anything with regard to the Almighty? Why should I pray this?

And of course, the easy answer to that is Jesus teaches us to pray this. But the other way that we need to understand this is by going back and looking at his book, looking back at what God tells us about how our prayers relate to God's work in the world.

The Story of Moses and the Golden Calf

There's a passage here in Exodus chapter 32 where Moses has gone up on the mountain, up on Sinai, and received the 10 commandments. And while he's gone, the people in the valley below have gathered their earrings and nose rings and jewelry, and melted them down, and made it into a golden calf, and they're worshiping it, and they're dancing around it, and they are declaring that that's their god.

And this is what happens. This is in Exodus chapter 32. The Lord said to Moses, this is up on the mountain:

Go down to your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt. They have corrupted themselves. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them in order that I may make a great nation out of you.

Now this is fascinating. This is a crazy story because Moses begins arguing with God. Listen to what he says. Moses implored the Lord his God and said:

Oh, Lord, why does your wrath burn against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with a great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, with evil intent did God bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, your servants to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven. In all this land I've promised I'll give your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.

And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. This is a crazy story. It's one of the hard passages to understand in the Old Testament. Moses' prayer leads God to relent. Some translations say repent.

Did Moses in this passage point out something that God had forgotten? Was God grumpy that day or not had his coffee? Here's the irony: God is the one who knows what's going on in the valley, and he tells Moses to go down and see it. In other words, God puts Moses in a place where he would see the problem, perceive God's anger, remember God's promises, and petition God to change his action. This is remarkable.

The very thing that Moses uses to change God's mind in this is the prayer—the promises that God had already made to his people. This is why Moses said, God, this is what you said. You can't go back on it.

Our Prayers and God's Promises

See, our most powerful prayers are hyperlinked to the promises of God. When you know you're praying God's promises, God's word, you can pray with confidence.

One writer, David Platt, says it's true that the purposes of God are unchanging. But I like this. He says, the plan of God though, at least from our perspective on the ground, is always unfolding. And God puts us in places, just like Moses. He puts us in the family you're in, in the office that you're in, in the neighborhood you're in, to claim his unchanging promises so we can change what happens in situations.

See, because God has hardwired the universe to run on the prayers of his people. Platt says, when we pray, we take our god-given place and use our god-ordained privilege to participate with him in the accomplishment of his purposes on this planet.

I want you to think long and hard about this. Like Moses, you and I have been put in particular situations with particular people around us so that we might claim the promises of God on behalf of others. Like Moses, he sends you down to a situation to ask. God put you in that family, in that workplace, in that friend group to see what's going on, and to pray his promises down. Isn't that empowering?

Again, God gives you the battery cables. Will you pray, Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done in this place? You've said you want all people to come to a knowledge, saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I ask you to do that. Lord, you say that your arm is not too short to save.

These are promises in the Bible. You say your arm is not too short to save. Lord, would you do that? Lord, you say that you work out all things for the good of your people. Lord, would you do that? See, taking his promises and praying them into reality in our situation.

You remember the hand illustration that we've been using throughout this? My friend Steve Smallman made this illustration that we're using as a guide to walk through learning to pray the word's prayer. He said the palm—this is our Father. This is the foundation off which all the petitions wiggle. We said the thumb is like "hallowed be your name." James talked about it last week, the opposable thumb. Today, as we look at "your kingdom come, your will be done"—this is the pointer finger, and it points us in the right direction about our lives. It points us, it orients us in the right direction to go.

Charles Spurgeon picked up on this. He was a pastor back in the eighteen hundreds in England. He's been called the prince of preachers, and he held these two petitions together. I'm not the only person to do this. He held "your kingdom come" and "your will be done" together, and said in many ways, these are like morning and evening prayers.

Morning and Evening Prayer

Morning prayer: Lord, your kingdom come. That is active petitionary prayer. You pray boldly against the things in the world that aren't right. Rebellion against the status quo. Lord, your kingdom come. Lord, change this. Bring your kingdom into the mess of right now. I'm asking you, Lord. For example:

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice. I plead my case to you. I wait expectantly. — Psalm 5

You look for specific ways that He is bringing His kingdom in your day.

Evening prayer, Spurgeon says, is when you submit yourself to the will of God, and you rest in His will. You rest in His choices for your life. You trust that He has given you what's best, and He promises that He will take care of you. So:

In peace, I'm gonna lie down in safety, for you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety. — Psalm 4

See, you do that, you can sleep. You could say, God is on the throne. He is working all things according to the counsel of his will, and I'm gonna trust him. I'm gonna ask for his will to be done and submit my will to his. Two kinds of prayer, brothers and sisters. Morning prayer, your kingdom come. Evening prayer, your will be done. Both point us in the right direction in our lives.

Two Applications

In conclusion, I want to say this: two applications. One is for those who are not Christians, and one for those who are.

When I think of the Lord's Prayer, I can't help but think how Jesus prayed these words. You know, on the night he was betrayed, right after the last supper he ate with his disciples, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane, and he stayed up all night praying. He knew that the cross was coming the next day. He knew that he would be laying down his life as a sacrifice, and yet he prays this prayer. He prays these words: "Not my will, but yours be done." He's praying almost the exact same thing in the Lord's Prayer. Your will be done.

You know, think about Jesus. In many ways, he's like the DC comic Superman. He's from outside this world. He was sent here by his Father. He's got all these special powers, and yet in this instance, he shows us something very different. He's sort of the anti-superhero in that he submits himself to the will of God the Father. This is the way that all of us come into relationship with God—following Jesus, submitting ourselves, saying, "Lord, your will be done in my life. I submit myself to you. Not my will, but yours be done."

And you know what will happen if you do that? If you pray that prayer, if you ask the Lord, if you submit to him in that way, you can see what happens in Jesus' life. Jesus submits himself to the Father's will, and when he does so, his kingdom comes into the lives of his people. He submitted himself to the will of the Father so that through the cross, his kingdom can come to you. Your salvation was brought to pass by Jesus praying that prayer, and the kingdom of God can come break into your life. You can receive the gift of salvation by you doing the same—submitting yourself to the will of the Father.

For you who are Christians, I want to give you this application: Jesus prayed, "Not as I will, but as you will." God's will is always best, and yet it's best, but it's not easy. Because of the conflict of kingdoms that we're in this world, there's a battle going on. And I find sometimes Christians, we're asleep to the fact that there is a spiritual battle going on all around us. There are kingdoms in conflict.

You know, it's been said that the big problem with our generation is that there's been no great war to fight, no great cause that reunites us, no rallying cry, nothing that we've had to really sacrifice for. No real battle in this life. But the reality is that Jesus, when he calls us into his kingdom, calls us into this fight, to a real battle. There is a battle. There's a spiritual war going on all around us, and the kingdom of this world is in conflict with the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This universe is made to run on the prayers of God's people. You are invited into the battle for this world to be fixed, for the superhero to come in and make everything right, and to make the world right. Will you join in the fight? Will you join in the battle?

Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, in the mystery of your kingdom and your will, that you involve your people. You've made this universe to run on the prayers of your people. Lord, I pray that the people of God would pray. Pray that you would teach us how to pray. Pray, father, that you would open our eyes to the spiritual battle around us. Father, I pray, Lord, that those who don't know you would submit their lives to you. Lord, we pray your kingdom would come and its power in us and through us for your glory and for our joy, and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.