1/22/2023 - Kingdom
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(Opening Prayer)
(Opening Prayer)
Matthew 6:9b–13 (ESV)
9b ...“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(Welcome)
(Welcome)
Welcome to Central.
Let me begin by saying, “Welcome Home” to you!
As an expository church, we prioritize preaching and teaching that focuses on a Christ-centered, holistic, and sequential approach to Scripture.
We enjoy preaching through books of the Bible and tackling each passage with a high view of Jesus Christ and an intent to be led into worship and transformation by what we find therein.
(Sermon Introduction)
(Sermon Introduction)
Today we continue our “Teach Us To Pray” Series, focusing on the Lord’s Prayer as recorded in Matthew 6.
We want to take an expository look at the most famous prayer ever recorded.
To begin today I have entitled the sermon, “Kingdom.”
(Lord’s Prayer Context)
(Lord’s Prayer Context)
Matthew records what is commonly referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer,” here in Matthew 6.
Truthfully, this prayer should be called, “The Disciple’s Prayer” as it really flows from the disciples lips to the Lord.
We call it “The Lord’s Prayer” because the Lord Jesus gave it to them.
It is also important to note that this style of prayer was actually quite common in Jewish circles of the day.
What is unique however is the interpretation and teaching that Jesus shares with it.
Matthew 6 is not the only place we see this prayer recorded.
It is also recorded in Luke 11.
We understand that these times were most likely not the only times that Jesus taught these things to the people and to His disciples.
(Gospel of Matthew Context)
(Gospel of Matthew Context)
We know that the focus of Matthew’s gospel is the teachings of Jesus.
His focus was not on the chronological nature of Jesus’ ministry.
But having started with what we refer to as “The Beatitudes,” in Matthew 5, Jesus takes the people on a journey of discovering what a true disciple looks like.
At one point, Jesus’ Disciples asked Jesus, “Teach Us To Pray,” to which Jesus responds with a phrase: “Pray like this.”
Jesus then begins to recite what has become the most famous prayer ever spoken.
We have already preached concerning:
“...When You Pray…Pray like this:” (Mt. 6:5-8)
“...Our Father in heaven...” (Mt. 6:9b)
And Pastor Robby did a great job preaching:
“...Hallowed Be Your Name...” (Mt. 6:9c)
Which brings us to this morning and our focus on:
“Your Kingdom come...” (Mt. 6:10a)
βασιλεία, Basileia
kingship, sovereignty, authority, rule, especially of God, both in the world, and in the hearts of men; hence kingdom, in the concrete sense. Alexander Souter, A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917), 47.
(Sermon Tension)
(Sermon Tension)
This statement fosters some questions:
Which kingdom?
What does the kingdom of God look like?
What does it mean for the Kingdom of God to come?
In what way is the kingdom coming?
If Jesus said the kingdom has come, why do we have to pray for it to come?
Why do we have to pray for something that sounds like it has happened or will happen?
We won’t be able to address all of these questions today but I believe we will address some of them.
Jesus had a lot to say about the Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven (interchangeable phrases).
Today I want to start with the tempting of Jesus in the wilderness.
Matthew 4:8–17 (ESV)
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.
13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,
14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
1. God’s Kingdom Is Different
1. God’s Kingdom Is Different
Matthew 6:10a (ESV)
10 Your kingdom come...
(Old Testament Kingdom vs. New Testament Kingdom)
(Old Testament Kingdom vs. New Testament Kingdom)
A major storyline of the Old Testament is the establishment of the kingdom of Israel.
In 1 Samuel we see the people of Israel yearning to have a kingdom like the other nations around them.
They cried out for this so much that the Lord God established the kingdom of Israel and placed Saul as king.
God even tells the prophet Samuel that the people had not rejected Samuel but God Himself as their King.
1 Samuel 8:7 (ESV)
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
The Lord uses this in His plan and takes later on from the line of Israel’s second king, David, and brings forth the Messiah/King.
Isaiah 9:6 tells us that upon the shoulders of this Messiah/King the government/kingdom of God shall rest.
All throughout the Old Testament it is clearly communicated that the kingdom of God was going to be different than what everyone expected.
The Lord declares that He is going to put His kingdom within His people (Eze. 36:25-27).
The Old Testament is very much seen and received as an external kingdom.
God set up laws that were to be followed.
God established a physical kingdom of Israel that produced the Messiah.
But the people of Israel were sent into exile because of their sin and disobedience to God.
The Lord established the nation of Israel and sets His plan in motion, so that He can establish an internal kingdom.
(Kingdom Tension of Jesus’ Day)
(Kingdom Tension of Jesus’ Day)
During Jesus day the people of Israel had returned to the land but became a territory of Rome.
The great Roman Empire held them under their power as captives in their own land.
The people were oppressed and desired to have freedom from their oppressors.
Many times our desires taint the way we read Scripture and how we interpret the will and plan of God.
Once again the Jewish people came to expect a situational kingdom not a positional kingdom.
They believed that the Kingdom of God would make the situational—right.
The Jewish people believed that the Messiah/King would come and free them from the tyranny of Rome, when in reality, Jesus came to free them from the tyranny of sin.
Luke 17:20–21 (ESV)
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,
21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
So often we mistake the Kingdom of God for what we see when Jesus said it has much more to do with what we do not see.
It is much more positional than situational.
Paul says something similar in Romans 14:17:
Romans 14:17 (ESV)
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
So God’s kingdom is not a place, but rather a relationship.
It exists wherever people enthrone Jesus as Lord of their lives.
When Jesus began preaching that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (literally, “has drawn near”), he meant that the long-promised enjoyment of God’s salvation for which Israel had been waiting was now there for them to enter (Mark 1:15).
How were they to enter it?
The Gospels answer that question.
By becoming Jesus’ disciples; by giving him their hearts’ loyalty, and letting him reshape their lives; by receiving forgiveness from him; by identifying with his concerns; by loving him without reserve, and giving his claims precedence over all others—in short, by manifesting what Paul called “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6), faith that acknowledges and embraces Jesus Christ as, in Peter’s phrase, “Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18).
To this faith Jesus pointed Nicodemus (John 3:13–15), having told him that no one sees or enters the kingdom without a radical inner transformation by the Spirit, which he pictured as being “born again” (vv. 3–8).
None of us can enter the kingdom without the Spirit’s help, and we must not be too proud to ask for it, nor refuse to be changed in whatever ways God sees necessary.
2. God’s Kingdom Is Not of This World
2. God’s Kingdom Is Not of This World
Matthew 6:10a (ESV)
10 Your kingdom come...
John 18:36–37 (ESV)
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
It is important that we remember that the Father’s Kingdom is a kingdom without borders.
There are no boundary lines that suggests where it begins and where it ends.
The Kingdom of the Father is boundless in the fact that His kingdom resides in the people of His kingdom and not the land of the kingdom.
(Kingdom Now/Dominionism Heresy)
(Kingdom Now/Dominionism Heresy)
One of the greatest tensions in Christianity is the belief about the Kingdom of God, how the kingdom is to be realized and experienced.
Whose responsibility is it for God’s kingdom to be realized here on earth.
In a sense this is the same teaching and belief that permeated the Pharisees and the Zealots of Jesus’ day.
They were looking to the establishment of a physical kingdom.
There are those who teach that it is the job of the believer to “bring the Kingdom of God to earth.”
This is simply not true.
The kingdom arrived with Jesus; indeed, you could say that as the incarnate Son of God, Jesus is the kingdom of God in person.
His rule over Christians is regal in the full-blooded biblical sense, personal, direct, and absolute.
His claims are the claims of God, overriding those of man.
Yet his rule is not tyranny, for King Jesus is his people’s servant, their shepherd and champion, ordering all things for their protection and enrichment. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).
In one sense, the kingdom is here now, and Christians are in it.
But in another sense—that of perfecting the display of God’s grace in this world—the kingdom remains future and awaits Christ’s return.
Daniel 2:44–45 (ESV)
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
The prayer “Your Kingdom come” looks on to that day.
That day being the day that GOD ESTABLISHES His physical Kingdom on earth.
This day is what is spoken of in Revelation 21-22.
However, this does not mean that the kingdom of God isn’t active and working now.
Any request for a display of God’s sovereignty in grace—renewing the church, converting sinners, restraining evil, providing good in this world, making disciples ONE DISCIPLE AT A TIME—is a further spelling out of “Your kingdom come.”
It means that God is working in the unseen, internal, and eternal sense until He establishes His kingdom once and for all for all to see in the physical and external sense.
At that day all will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!
If one asks where in the Lord’s Prayer does general intercession appear, the answer is here.
This phrase, “Your kingdom come.” is connected to the heart of the early church when they began to pray, “Maranatha” or “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”
3. God’s Kingdom Cannot Shaken
3. God’s Kingdom Cannot Shaken
Matthew 6:10a (ESV)
10 Your kingdom come...
Hebrews 12:28–29 (ESV)
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
29 for our God is a consuming fire.
(Response)
(Response)
(Invite Worship Team)
All along, the Lord’s external kingdom was a means to an end.
That end being the establishment of the kingdom of God within the human heart.
Those who have the kingdom within them shall reside in the Kingdom with Him now and when HE establishes it externally at the last day forevermore!
This is the Now and Not Yet Kingdom that the Scriptures teaches us about.
Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
(Closing Tension)
(Closing Tension)
God’s Kingdom:
Is Different
Is Not of this World
Cannot Be Shaken
Your...This Kingdom belongs to Him.
It’s not about my way.
It’s not about your way.
It’s all about His way.
Kingdom...Jesus is the King of this kingdom.
He is our focus.
He is our victor.
He is in charge.
Come...This kingdom is here and on its way.
He has established it.
He is establishing it. ONE DISCIPLE AT A TIME
He will establish it.
Believer’s Bible Commentary (6:9–15)
We should pray for the advancement of God’s cause, putting His interests first.
Specifically, we should pray for the day when our Savior-God, the Lord Jesus Christ, will set up His kingdom on earth and reign in righteousness.
(Response Card)
(Response Card)
1. Would you like to become a believer in Jesus Christ? (Yes/No/Already Am)
2. Are you operating as a member of the Kingdom of God? (Blank Lines)
3. How have you misunderstood the Kingdom of God? (Blank Lines)
4. How are praying “You Kingdom Come” today? (Blank Lines)
(Closing)
(Closing)