Father's Kingdom

On June 11, 2001, twenty years ago, Timothy McVeigh was executed. You might not know who that is, but he was the American terrorist who bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building, killing 168 people, including 19 children. On the day of his execution, he ate 2 pints of Mint Chocolate chip Ice Cream and then was strapped to the execution bed and uttered his last words from the 1875 poem "Invictus" which is Latin for ‘Unconquerable; He said simply: "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

Do you see the irony? There is a man, strapped to a bed against his will, by officers forcing him in, to then have a lethal injection placed into his body from the outside, and then face a death he didn’t want. And in the midst of that, he says “I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

It’s almost laughable if it weren’t so shocking, but also so common. You see, he only expressed the great American myth: that we are each the master of our own fates, we can do what we want, and live how we desire, we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and we just live our lives.

And in the midst of all of that comes Jesus with a very different view of the world. As I mentioned last week, Jesus came to the world to show the world what God the Father is like. And when his followers asked Him to teach them how to pray, He pointed them Upward in adoration to the Father who is also a Sovereign King.

But He didn’t live them there, because real prayer to the Holy God who is a Father, eventually directs them and us Outward to the surrounding world. As a result of spending time adoring a Good Father, God then starts revealing His heart for the world.

And this is the exact turn that Jesus makes in the Lord’s Prayer. After adoring God in Upward Prayer, He turns to the world praying Outwardly. But here’s the thing, He does so acknowledging that God is a King, that He is sovereign. So, He directs His followers to pray for a world full of people celebrating themselves in rebellion. He directs our attention to Sovereign God and to pray: “Father, cause your kingdom to come, cause everybody to gladly bow down to your kingly authority. Subdue all rebellion to your will. Bring every human will on earth into submission to your will!”

This is just another way to say: “Let Your Kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!”

This my friends, is the prayer of Intercession. This is the heartbeat of the Christian: a longing for the Father’s Kingdom!

So today, I want to follow Jesus and direct our hearts to the weary and wretched world around us and long for the Father’s Kingdom and Will over it all!

Jesus prays Your Kingdom Come on Earth as it is in Heaven

Exposition: Well, the first thing to ask is: What is the Kingdom of God? In the most basic sense, the Kingdom of God is the reign and rule of God! God is Sovereign, which means King. There are really two aspects of the kingdom of God. The first is universal. The second is redemptive.

First, there is a Universal Kingdom where God is the universal King in that “He upholds and governs all things – from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons– all in accord with His eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify Himself” as the Statement of Faith we affirm says.

So, to pray ‘Your Kingdom Come’ in this sense is to acknowledge the total rule and right and reign of God over all things and events and ourselves. Just like a British citizen acknowledges the reign of the British King or Queen. The universal kingdom is uninterrupted. We just acknowledge it and we just bow to its sovereignty and rejoice in it, or we rebel against it in our pride.

Second there is a redemptive Kingdom where God is also the Redeeming King. The Redemptive kingdom of God is where Jesus rules over the souls of His people, and He does that now, but not fully yet. In one sense, the Kingdom has already come in Christ, but the same kingdom is still in the future. Jesus brought and inaugurated the Kingdom but also directed us to pray for its full coming. Why? Because on earth, there are still those who do not submit to His rule.

Now, the Kingdom being Now and Not Yet is a lot like how World War 2 ended. Historians agree that World War II ended in the Battle of Normandy ‘D-day” on June 6th, 1944, when the Allied forces overwhelmed Germany and rendered its defeat certain. But it took another year for Germany to surrender ‘V-Day’ and there were plenty of bloody battles during that year. Between D-Day and V-Day, the victory the allied forces had already won was not yet an actual fact.

Why the history lesson? Because D-Day for the Kingdom is when Jesus finished his work by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. At this time the sin, Satan, demons, death and hell were dealt overwhelmed and defeated. Yet, Christ’s victory over them will not be fully manifested until V-Day, when Christ returns and fully establishes God’s Kingdom. We live in between those two. When we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we are praying for the continued growth of God’s reign on earth, one person and soul at a time. We are praying for God to convert the hearts of His enemies, bringing them to confess Jesus as King. We are praying that He puts those who refuse to submit beneath His feet. We are praying for the coming of the day when all evil, sin, pride and rebellion against God is finally eradicated. We are praying that the earth will look like heaven, now and in the future! That is intercession and it is powerful!

Illustration: In fact, there is another event during World War 2 that makes shows this. Our intercession is a lot like what happened at Dunkirk. You may have seen the movie Dunkirk, director Christopher Nolan. During the darkest hours of World War II, the British army was outmaneuvered and surrounded in France and faced possible annihilation by the Nazis. Only 30,000 were expected to be rescued. So, King George VI (6) called for a National Day of Prayer and churches across Great Britain were filled with people praying.... Then some bizarre things started happening. First, Hitler overruled his generals and halted the advance of his army. Second, A furious storm broke out, grounding the German squadrons. Third, a great calm settled over the English Channel allowing the British to cross. Over 300,000 were saved and even the secular commentators, the Prime Minister and the King called it ’a miracle’, the very hand of God!

Application: Now you might not be at that level, but Have you ever had a feeling that you needed to pray for something or someone? What happened? This happens to me all the time. When someone, many of you, come to my mind, I try to immediately pray for them and you, then see if I can reach out. This is a way of responding to the voice of the Spirit calling me to pray.

This is called Intercession. I know that word can be a little scary for some people. But it’s actually really simple. Intercessory prayer is Outward Prayer, where you ask God for the needs of other people or situations. Literally, intercession is intervening or mediating between two parties as the equal friend of both. In this, we express our agreement with the Lord, we agree with what He promised to do.

Intercession is simply telling God what He tells you to tell Him. It is profoundly simple. God is Sovereign and yet, Intercession is God’s brilliant strategy for including you in ruling with Him in power.

Just think about it, God can do whatever He wants, He’s sovereign! Yet He has chosen to invite us to participate with what He’s doing. He can do it, but He wants us included in His work, much like a parent includes a child in washing dishes. It can be done much faster alone, but the parent wants the child to participate for the sake of relationship, even if the child drops & breaks a plate.

You are invited to participate with what Jesus is doing, by speaking the Word and will of the Father and the Spirit releases it. God wants it this way, He doesn't need it. But He wants a relationship with you, so He includes you in what He is doing. So, pray to participate with God’s work to change things on the earth. Prayer isn’t about trying to get God to say amen to what you want; prayer is about you saying amen to God’s will and what He wants on earth.

And this takes place as you live your life and look at the world around you. Jesus specifically instructed us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. That makes you look forward to the day when Jesus is King overall. It makes you look up to heaven now and imagine what life would look like right here and now, if Jesus was presently King and if the earth looked like heaven?

What would your home and marriage look like if it was like heaven? What would your neighborhood and community and city be like if Jesus reigned over it today? How would the big issues of injustice be solved if God were acknowledged, and His Kingdom came into them? Wherever there is sickness, the Kingdom coming means healing because there is no death or disease in heaven. Wherever there is division, the Kingdom coming looks like unity because there is no disunity in heaven. Wherever there is unbelief, the Kingdom coming looks like evangelism and conversion because there is no rebellion, pride or sin in heaven. Pray this way and live this way my friends!

Here’s how you can do this: Get Informed, Get Inspired, Get Indignant and Get in Sync.

1. Get Informed: Engage with the facts, from the needs of your neighbor to the needs of another country. Read the news and pray over what’s wrong. Imagine what God making wrong things right would look like, then pray for it.

2. Get Inspired: Engage God’s Word. What is God’s Word saying about a need or situation? Find a promise in Scripture that you can claim and pray specifically about the need. Take what are called ‘Apostolic Prayer’ (which are prayers the apostles prayed in the New Testament) and pray positive, God-centered prayers from those verses.

3. Get Indignant: Pick a fight, get fired up, and engage your heart. Allow the things that break God’s heart to break your heart too. Feel this stuff with force and passion.

4. Get in Sync: Engage other Christians to pray with. It’s more powerful to intercede with other people. Jesus said if 2-3 agree in prayer on anything, it’ll be done by my Father in heaven.

Your Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven

Exposition: This now turns us to one of the hardest things to process through: The Will of God. Jesus tells His disciples to pray “Let it come- your will’. But what is the will of God? On the most basic level, the will of God is His decrees and desires. God is the sovereign King over the universe and as the King, He decrees things, and He desires things. That’s His will.

Now just like how a citizen of the British Monarchy does not wake up thinking: “I hope the people will obey the King or Queen today!” why on earth do we pray that the sovereign God’s will be carried out? He is King after all right?

Yes, He is King, but people are not obedient subjects. In fact, people living in His kingdom think they are free to direct their lives in any way that they please. Like Timothy McVeigh, they think they are the master of their lives. But here’s the thing, though God is completely sovereign, man is also responsible for his actions. We must accept both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of humanity in mystery. You see, to ignore or reject either one is to reject or ignore half of scripture.

Now think about it in regard to the line “on earth as it is in heaven”. In heaven, the will of God flows like a great river that has no dams to block. On earth, however, sin interrupts the flow of the river. It seems like it blocks God’s will. But the call to pray this, is really a submission to God’s will and not our own. It’s not fatalistic doom on one hand and it’s not libertarian free will on the other hand. We pray for the Sovereign King’s will to be accomplished and come, right here as it is in heaven. And God will ultimately arrange everything that happens in the world according to His will.

Illustration: And best place to see this played out is prayer. In my own experience, I’ve wrestled with this, my will and desire wanting something, even contrary to the will and desire of God. I can think of a couple of things in my life where I have prayed desperately, I’ve just prayed and prayed and prayed, mainly to do with a job, my work, my life, family, relationships and future. You know, I can think of times when I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed for a particular opportunity or a particular occurrence.

And both those times God shut the door. It wasn’t according to His will. And now when I look back, I am so glad that he shut those doors. Because if he hadn't shut those doors, I wouldn't be where I am and able to do what I'm doing now. Now, you may wish he hadn't shut those doors for you! But I personally love what I'm doing now, and I'm so thankful to him for shutting those doors.

I read once where the late famous Christian Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth Graham, told an audience, `God has not always answered my prayers. If he had, I would have married the wrong man, several times!’ And I am sure you have similar stories. The wrestle with unanswered prayer is a place of tension between God and man. We go from a place of thinking our prayers will change the world, to the place of wondering if our prayers can even do anything. We think prayer is a way to change God, but really, it’s a place where God changes us, conforming us to His will.

Application: You see prayer is the most wonderful thing in the world, but also the most painful thing. Dealing with unanswered prayer and wrestling with what is the will of God is very hard.

Now at this point, you may be sitting here in heartbreak because your prayers haven’t been answered. There are times when it feels like the way God answers prayer can seem arbitrary. We don’t know His purposes in it or exactly what His will is. He seems to answer some prayers, He doesn’t seem to answer some, and the ones that are unanswered really seem to matter to us.

You must understand this: God always hears and answers your prayers. But His answer might not be what you expect because His answer will always conform to His will, His decree and His desires. One of the best ways to think about it is in a metaphor of a traffic light:

· Green Light: Sometimes when we pray, we get an automatic green light. It’s a yes, it’s a miracle very quickly.

· Yellow Light: Sometimes, it can be a yellow light. It’s as if God is saying, ‘wait and preserve’.

· Red Light: Then sometimes, it is a red light. For reasons we don’t yet understand, God seems to be saying no, and that can be agonizingly painful.

Now, if you feel that you have hit a red light and hear a no from God about something you are praying about, if you are a Christian, you really need to hold on to God’s love. It’s more important than ever before. Don’t give up on God’s love or doubt it when your prayers aren’t answered in the way you want. Remember that your acceptance is based on Christ’s work on the cross, not whether you get what you pray for or not. The whole point of prayer is communion.

Sometimes we will all go through things in life that we don’t and can’t understand. Those are the times we can let our Father hold us and love us and comfort us because it is possible to trust Him, even when we don’t understand. And you can bravely and boldly pray, even in tears, “Your will be done’.

And that is an important prayer to pray, but let it always be second. First pray, let your Kingdom come. Pray for the changes you want to see in your world and in the lives of the people around you. Pray for God’s kingdom to come in your home, your relationships, your neighborhood, your school and work, your city and nation, all the big political and economic and cultural issues of the day. Pray hard and pray bold. And then, pray, Your Will be done. This is a posture of submission to a Holy God and His will, not a demand on Him to do what you want. It’s an act of humility, not a pride filled rant.

And that is why it’s so important to pray what the Bible actually says. What is it in scripture that you want God to do? Tell Him it, literally read the verse out loud to Him. Spend some time in the Bible, praying for promises that resonate with what you long for. Pray those specific promises more practically. This gives us train tracks to know how to pray in the name of Jesus. And you can take those very promises and words and tell them to God. Lord, you said it right here, now will you do it!

Christ-Centered Closing:

Now, the best example of this I know is Jesus Himself. In His first coming, we see intercession. When God the Son became Jesus of Nazareth, He united two opposing forces. He saw the separation between the Father’s perfect holiness and the horrific sinfulness of mankind. And so, God the Son threw Himself into the gap and took on the form of estranged humanity. In becoming a Man, God the Son descended towards humanity. In being God, Jesus as a human, reached perfectly to the Father. God and Man, formerly opposed, finally collided in peace in the Man Christ Jesus, and the gap was spanned. That was intercession!

And He was fully submitted to His Father’s will. In John 4:34 He said, "My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me." Think about that. His food, His nourishment, what He needed for strength, His delight, His daily necessity, His joy, His sustenance, where He draws His very life from is the will of God the Father. That's all that Jesus ever wanted. In John 6:38 He further said, "I came down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me."

Then, on the cross, God became His own intercessor. Jesus took on all the sins of his people so that the Lord could crush Him for their sake. He went to the highest level of intercession, becoming the sacrifice to reconcile both opposing parties.

Even now, Jesus intercedes in Heaven, praying to His Father on our behalf according to Hebrews 7:25 “He always lives to make intercession for them.”

And yet He Himself still lives with unanswered prayer. He prayed in John 17 that His church would be One and united. And the last time I checked that has not happened as the church is bitterly divided. So, He prays, and He waits.

See we believe in a God who came and suffered with us and for us. In fact, in Mark 14:32-36, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His arrest, and Jesus was praying. He would pray all the time. He was in great turmoil as He was preparing for the cross. “And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Did you catch that? He was praying through the Lord’s prayer: “Abba Father” is the same as Father in Heaven, Holy is Your Name.” “All things are possible for your, remove this cup from me” is the same as “Let Your kingdom come”, and to climax is all “Yet not what I will, but what you will” is the same as “Your will be done.”

Jesus was vulnerable, with His friends that he takes with Him into His place of grief and asked for their support. His suffering didn’t isolate Him. And in His hour of greatest need, He pursued His father and His Fathers Kingdom as the greatest need for His soul.

He specifically prayed that night for the cup of suffering to be removed from Him. Yet God rejected that prayer, so that He could accept you and I, if we believe.

And Jesus died on that cross so your prayers could be heard. The Jesus rose from the grave so that Your prayers could be answered. And today you can boldly pray “let Your Kingdom come” because one day God’s Universal and Redemptive Kingdom will be one, when Jesus returns, and His will fully displayed. And on that day, the prayers of Jesus and your prayers will be united and answered and a whole new meaning will give to His last words before His death: it is finished. Amen!

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