Your Kingdom; Your Will

Sermon Notes

Praying for Reign: Your Kingdom; Your Will

Mark 1:14-20; Matthew 6:9-10

     Most people seem to think that there are things that need to be changed in our world – and things that need to be changed in our lives.  I can hardly believe how many books, articles and videos there are that tell us how to take control and to change things in this world.  Most of them rightly tell us not to blame everything else in the world for all our problems.  That kind of “victim’s mentality” rarely seems to change anything.  However, the ways experts tell us to change things also seem to be hopelessly inadequate.  Most of them tell us to take full control of our own lives – to set our own goals and to go for them with all our gusto and strength.

     But, that doesn’t seem to work either.  Either we find that we hit a brick wall in our endeavors – the money runs out, our health fails, the boss’s son gets the promotion, etc. 

     Or, we get what we strive for and discover it isn’t all we expected it to be.  It’s like Tom Brady on 60 Minutes after Brady had married a supermodel and won his third Super Bowl ring, “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.  I reached my goal, my dream, my life.’ I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be … (Tom Brady, 60 Minutes).

     Or, let’s face it:  Sometimes we’re our own problem.  We find we can’t even change our own exercise or eating patterns.  We get started on something but find we’re a bit like rubber bands, i.e., we can be stretched out to a certain point but then we snap back to where we were.  As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “Human nature changes not much faster than the geological formations of the earth.”  And, that’s not very fast, is it.

     Today, we will see that, from the moment Jesus launched his ministry, he let people know he had come to change things – and that includes changing our lives.  He declared, “The time has come.  The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news (Mk 1:14-15)!” 

     The coming of the kingdom of God into this world was the central message of Jesus’s life.  He taught about it, told stories about it and, today, we see that he taught his followers to pray for it. He said, “When you pray, pray like this… Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  What does it mean to pray like that?  Let’s think in our time together about the two key phrases in this part of Jesus’s prayer:

Phrase 1: “Your Kingdom Come.”

     Church people talk about “the kingdom” all the time: we talk about “kingdom activities” and “kingdom community” and “kingdom ministry.” In short, “kingdom” is probably one of the most commonly used words in the vocabulary of people in churches like ours. But, I imagine that if we took a survey asking us at LAC to define what the kingdom of God is, many of us would be hard pressed to do it? Could you tell a co-worker or neighbor who never goes to church what Christians mean when we talk about “the kingdom of God?”

     So, let me try.  I think the most important thing I can say about the kingdom of God is that the basic meaning of the word kingdom in the Bible is the word reign — R-E-I-G-N – i.e., to be in control over or to rule over.  When Jesus said he had come to bring the kingdom of God, he meant that God is going to reign over something. Over what?  The kingdom of God means that God is in the midst of a process to take full control of all things that are his. Of course, that includes everything in all creation.  Jesus said that he came to inaugurate God’s full reign over all things and to make things the way they should be.  In other words, Jesus was saying the opposite of what Jack Welch said, “Control your own destiny or someone else will.”  Jesus says, “You need someone to control your destiny – and I’ve come to bring him into your life.”

     When Jesus taught people to pray, “Your kingdom come”, he did so at a point in history when two lines of the Bible’s teaching intersect.  The first is what literature teachers call a descending line or an “I-shaped plot.” Human beings, made in God’s image, began our journey in the world in close fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2), a place that is the example of what things are like when God is fully in charge.  Genesis 2 is a prototype of the kingdom of God.  In the Garden of Eden, all relationships were healthy, caring and good – and the most important thing was that God was there and people were in right relationship to him.

     But, almost immediately, the stubborn self-will of the original couple, Adam and Eve, led them to want to take over, “to be like God”, and they disobeyed his one moral command.  They wanted to have the “kingdom of Adam and Eve.”    That messed up everything.  They were forced to leave paradise.  Those generations that followed them continued to live self-directed lives. What began as the sin of just two people in Genesis 3 continued with unbridled collective selfishness and sin.  This continued from generation to generation of people “doing what is right in their own eyes” and with the effects of self-determination being deeply ingrained in the hearts of human beings and the systems of our world.  What you and I have been born into is a world with a lot of competing “kingdoms” in this world, that, as Jesus said in John 10, “steal, kill and destroy our lives.”  Addictions.  Dishonesty.  Unfaithful relationships.  Obsession with materialism.  When God is not the God of our lives, we open our lives to all sorts of other “kingdoms”.

     So, that first line in the Bible is very clear: It is a descending line of people living lives for self with no real knowledge of God.  So, even there is much good in this world, we all know there is a lot of evil and misery too.

     This is where the second line of the Bible enters in, i.e., the kingdom of God breaking into this world filled with other kingdoms.  Even as most of us in our world generally try to find a meaningful life in all sorts of things, we fall short of finding it.  All the while, since Jesus came, the opportunity to live a different life, one that is alive to God, has been made available through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Yes, through faith in Jesus, God is ready to come into your life and he has the power to change things.  That change is a matter of growth.  It doesn’t happen in as fast as we want it to happen.  Jesus said again and again that the kingdom of God is like a seed that is planted.  At first, it can hardly be seen, like a seed in the soil.  But, it begins to bud.  Then, it will grow -- and ultimately, it will arrive in its fullness and it will be beautiful.

     For John the Baptist, it didn’t happen as fast as he thought it should so he sent messengers to Jesu to find out if he was really the Messiah come to bring the kingdom of God.  Jesus said, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor (Lk 7:22-23).”

     Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God, the power of God himself, into your life and into our world. There’s hope for change even for people like we are.  And when the kingdom of God comes in its fullness, everything will be made right.  The prophet John tells us about what it will be like when the kingdom of God comes in its fullness:

God himself will be with his people and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new (Rev 21:3-5)!”

     Don’t you ever long for that kind of world?  With all that in mind, Jesus told us to pray, “Father in heaven, your kingdom come.”  When you pray that way, your prayers will be like these: 

• When you see your son or daughter walking away from God and becoming addicted to opioids, cutting or gambling, you will agonize and your heart cry deep-down will be, “Your kingdom come.”
• When your Dad has walked out on your Mom and you hurt and groan that life shouldn’t be this way, you will cry out in prayer, “Father in heaven, your kingdom come!”
• When you’ve just gotten the diagnosis, “Terminal cancer” and you feel that you have so much more to live for and that this isn’t fair, you really are screaming, “Father in heaven, this cannot be the end of everything. There must be something beyond death. May your kingdom come!”
• When, in the midst of all the political discussions, you discover that your friend has learned that she is undocumented and may be sent away from her life-long home, something inside you will say, “This isn’t right!” And, you will pray, “Lord, your kingdom come!”

     Anytime there an injustice that can neither be tolerated nor eradicated, a shooting of children in a school, a drunk hit-and-run driver who had three previous DUIs hitting and killing your brother, a child born with brain disease or any other wrong that you know needs to be righted, what you long for is the kingdom of God.  Whether you know it or not, your heart crying out, “God, your kingdom come!”

     Pastor Helmut Thielicke, a renowned pastor in Stuttgart, Germany was preaching a series on the Lord’s Prayer just like this one as the allies were bombing his city in World War II.  His church sanctuary had been destroyed with only the small chapel left.  In that crowded chapel, he told his people to continue to pray, “Thy kingdom come” in the midst of all that was transpiring.  He knew, as Scripture teaches, that all this was not the end of things for a day would come with no more pain, no more war, and no more death.  He said, “In this world filled with death, in this empire of ruins and shell-torn fields we pray: ‘Thy kingdom come!’. We pray it more fervently than ever.”  It takes genuine faith to pray like this – faith that God will complete his kingdom.

     Jesus said we are to pray with that kind of faith.  So, is there anything that is happening in or around you in your world right now that you know in your heart is not the way it should be.  Jesus taught us to pray, in the midst of such times, “Our Father in heaven.  Hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come!”

     When you pray that, you will find that you will also pray, “And, Father in heaven, may your will be done.”

“Your Will Be Done.”

     The phrase translated “may your will be done” literally means “may your will happen.” It’s praying as Jesus prayed just before he was crucified, “Father, if it be possible, may this cup of death pass from me.  But, not my will, Father.  May your will be done.”  When we pray this prayer, we pray something like this, “Father, may your will happen in me, through me and in our world, Lord.” 

     What this looks like is what we read earlier in Mark 1:14-20.  In that story, four Jewish fishermen were out doing what they had always done – and probably the same things their parents and grandparents before them had done.  Their lives were directed by family tradition, by their own habits and cultural patterns.  So, on a day like every other day, suddenly, this man comes to the shore and tells them to repent and believe in him.  They do repent and believe in him. And then, he calls them to change the way they have lived their lives and to follow him wherever he leads.  Amazingly, they do it.  The Bible says, “Without delay, they left their father in the fishing boat with the hired hands and followed Jesus.”  Their lives were never the same.

     That’s where the work of God starts in your life – in the same way as it began in those four men’s lives.  You must turn over to God whatever has been at the center of your life, which is what repentance means.  And, I’m sure they had some sins and wrongs in their lives that had to be repented of too.  That’s true of us all.  Give that all to Jesus in faith.  And then believe in him.  They did that too.  Have you?  That’s the beginning of the work of the kingdom of God in your life.  That doesn’t mean these men never fished again.  We know they did.  But, the main decision-making factor in their lives was that they committed to do whatever Jesus called them to do. 

     What does that look like in our day?  Years ago, I played tennis every Thursday morning with a young engineer who had only come to church because his girlfriend wouldn’t go out with him if he didn’t go to church with her.  At every changeover, we stopped and talked about this matter of turning from a self-directed life to following Jesus by faith. After many months, he said before we played, “Pastor Greg.  I’m in.  I believe in Jesus.  I want to follow him.”

     But, his engineering mind continued to try to figure out how his new faith in Jesus actually changed his day-by-day life.  Finally, many months later, he had a breakthrough.  I had just preached from 2 Corinthians 5:15 and had said that, when we experience the love of God through faith in Jesus, “we no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us and rose again.”  My friend said, “It seems so simple and yet it’s taken me so long to grasp it.  Before I followed Jesus, I woke up in the morning and asked myself, ‘What do I want to do today or what do I have to do today?’  Now, each day I get up and pray, ‘Lord, my faith is in you.  What would you have me to do today?’”  He said, “It’s changing everything.”

     He asked me, “Pastor Greg, do you think I’m on the right track?”  I said, “What you are doing is exactly what Jesus taught us to do when we pray.  You are praying, ‘Our Father in heaven… your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth – including my own life today – as it is in heaven.’  Keep praying that and you will not go wrong.”

      This is the way it is when we follow Jesus. It’s happened to so many of us:  One day you’re living life in your usual way -- making decisions like everybody else – wondering how you can make the most money or how you can succeed – and then, suddenly, it hits you that God is real, that God knows you, and that the message of Jesus is true.  You turn around from how you were living and you follow Jesus.  You enter into a relationship with God and you learn to pray.  And, what you pray is this, “Father in heaven, I’ve been wanting to control my own life without you.  Lord, may your kingdom come.  The prayer of my life has been, ‘My will be done.’  No more, Father, no more. Father, here on earth and in my life, may your will be done.” Praying “your kingdom come, your will be done” becomes a way of life for Jesus-followers – or it should become that.

     So, right now – whether it’s for the 1^st time for you or for the 1000^th time -- let’s do as Jesus taught us to pray.  Pray with me, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

Chinese Translation

為神的主權而禱告：祢的國度；祢的旨意

馬可1：14-20；馬太6：9-10

    

            大多數人都認為我們世界中的某些東西需要被改變—我們生命中的某些東西也需要被改變。我記不清有多少書籍，文章和視頻談到如何掌控和改變這世界的事物。許多人居高臨下地指出我們不應該為自己的問題怨天尤人---“受害者心態”似乎很少會帶來改變；然而，專家們提供的一些所謂帶來改變的方法似乎也是無助無益；於是，又有許多人告訴我們要完全掌控我們的生活，就必須在確立目標後勇往直前，但是這也是徒勞的。我們要麼發現一切的努力似乎都撞上南牆，比如拼上老命、健康滑坡，自己沒有被獎賞，老闆的兒子卻得到晉升等等；要麼我們發現得到了奮鬥的結果卻完全不是我們想要的，就像湯姆布萊迪娶了模特做新娘並摘得第三只超級碗桂冠後接受60 分鐘節目採訪時說，“為什麼我都贏了三次超級碗還覺得有更了不起的東西在那兒等著我呢？我是說，也許大多數人會說，‘嘿，哥們，人生不過如此了。你實現了目標，夢想，人生。’而我總在想，‘上帝啊，還應該有比這更偉大的事。’我是說，不應該就只有這些，所有一切努力的結果不應該只是這些。。。”（湯姆布萊迪，60分鐘節目）。

            那麼，讓我們來直面它吧：有時就是我們自己的問題。我們發現我們甚至不能改變自己的鍛煉或飲食模式。我們嘗試著開始，但後來發現我們就像橡皮筋，被拉伸到一個地步又彈了回來。如亞歷山大·索爾仁尼琴所言，“人類本性不比地球的地理形狀變得快。”事實上是真的不快。

            今天，從耶穌事工的開始我們就看到，他來是要帶來改變，包括改變我們的生命。他宣告說，“時候到了，神的國近了，你們應當悔改，相信福音”（可1：14-15）。很清楚，耶穌知道世界的許多事都需要改變，也包括我們的個人生活。所以他說，“在神國中你們必須要做的就是必須悔改（將你的生活重新來過）並要相信福音。”

        耶穌的生命所傳遞的核心信息就是神的國進入這個世界，他為此教導人，用比喻講故事。今天的信息是他教導他的門徒為此禱告。他說，“當你們禱告的時候要這樣說：願你的國度降臨，願你的旨意行在地上如同行在天上。”這個禱告是什麼意思？讓我們一起來思想耶穌禱告中的兩節鑰節：

 

鑰節1：“願你的國度降臨。”

             教會的人總提到“國度”，比如我們講到過“國度事件”和“國度共同體”和“國度事工”。簡而言之，“國度”一詞可能是像我們這樣的教會最常用的詞彙之一了。然而，我很難想像如果我們在教會中或不常來教會的鄰居中做個問卷調查，問問如何理解基督徒所說的“神的國”，結果會怎樣？

             讓我先來試試。我認為我能想到跟神的國有關的，也是最重要的事就是聖經中“國”的基本意思，那就是掌權--— R-E-I-G-N，也就是說，支配或統治。當耶穌說他帶來神的國，他是在說神要支配某些事。支配什麼？神的國意味著神在其中完全支配屬他的一切，當然，屬他的一切包括所有被造物。耶穌說，他來要開始神對萬物的完全掌管並按神的方式做事。

            耶穌教導人們禱告時說“願你的國度降臨”，實際上是將歷史帶到兩條聖經教導主線索的交匯處。第一條主線索是下降線或叫“以我為中心的企圖”。按神的形象受造的人類在這個世界開始人生旅程時是在伊甸園中與神親密同行（創2章），那是一個在上帝完全掌控時萬事萬物呈現出該有模樣的典範。創世紀2章是神國的原型。在伊甸園中，所有的關係都是健康的，充滿愛的，是好的---最重要的是上帝在那裡，人們與上帝有正確的關係。

            但是很快第一對夫妻亞當和夏娃固執的自我意志引誘他們越權，想要“像神一樣”。於是他們違背了神的命令，想要一個“亞當和夏娃的國”，這就把所有事情都搞砸了。他們被迫離開樂園。他們的後代繼續他們以自我為導向的老路。原本只是創世紀3章中兩個人的罪演變成一發不可收拾的，源源不絕的滔天私欲和罪孽。一代又一代，人們做著“在他們眼中看為正的事”，其結果深深植入人心和整個世界體系。你我降生的世界是個有許多“國度”在競爭的世界，正如耶穌在約翰福音10章中說的，這世界在“偷竊，殺害，毀壞我們的生命”，比如迷戀各種癮癖、不誠實、不忠的關係、迷戀物質主義等等。當上帝不是我們生命的上帝時，我們的生命就會向各式各樣的“國度”敞開。

            因此，第一條主線索是很清晰的：就是人們為自我生活且不認識上帝的下降線。所以，即使這個世界有許多美好事物，我們都知道也存在無數的邪惡和不幸。

            這裡我們看到第二條聖經主線索的進入，即神的國進入充滿各樣國度的世界。儘管大多數人努力在各樣事物中嘗試尋找有意義的生活，卻找不到。自耶穌進入人類歷史後，藉著他的生、死和復活而重新活---向上帝活的時機終於來到人間。是的，藉著相信耶穌，上帝要進入你的生命，他有能力帶來改變。這種改變是漸漸發生的，不會一夜間發生。耶穌反復說神的國就像一粒種在地裡的種子：起初，什麼都看不到，就像一粒土壤中的種子；然而，它會開始發芽，成長，最後會長成豐滿美麗的樣子。耶穌的到來將神的國，將神的能力帶進你的生命和這個世界。並且，在神沒有難成的事，就是對我們這樣的人也不例外。

            當神的國完全來到時，萬事萬物都要被更新。先知約翰向我們描述了神國完全來到時的情形：神將要親自與他們同在，做他們的神^[。神要從他們的眼中抹去一切淚水。將來不再有死亡，也不再有悲傷、哭泣或痛苦，因為先前的事已經過去了。”坐在寶座上的那一位說：“看哪，我正在更新一切 （啟21：3-5）！”                    

            你不渴望這樣的世界麼？因此耶穌教導我們禱告“我們在天上的父，願你的國度降臨”。我們這樣禱告時，實際上是說：

• 當你看見你的兒女遠離神，沉迷於各種偶像、甚至賭博時，你苦悶，內心深處在哭泣：“願你的國度降臨。”
• 當你的父親遠離母親，你受傷痛苦，覺得生活不該這樣，你會哭著禱告：“我們在天上的父，願你的國度降臨”。
• 當你得知被診斷出了癌症，你覺得不公平，因為有許多事你還沒有做，你實在很害怕: “天父，不能這樣結束啊，一定有超越死亡的事。願你的國度降臨！”
• 當你在政治爭論中，得知你的朋友因為沒有身份, 要被驅逐出境，你內心會說：“這政策不對啊！”你會禱告：“主啊，願你的國度降臨。”
• 當你的一個朋友中槍了，或你的祖母過世，或你的小孩因病夭折，你會覺得這世界簡直瘋了。你只渴望神的國度。一旦你因信遇見耶穌並知道他在工作，且最終要讓萬事歸正，你就會禱告：“主啊，快快完工吧，願你的國度降臨。”

            當你看見既無法容忍又不能根除的不公義之事，比如校園槍擊，酒後肇事逃跑，兄弟遇害，孩子天生腦癱，或任何你感到不應該發生的事，你的心在呼求：“神啊，願你的國度降臨”。

            漢莫思利牧師是德國斯圖多特的名牧，當二戰時盟軍轟炸這個城市時，他正講主禱文系列，像我們現在一樣。他們教會的主堂已經被炸，只剩下一個付堂。就在這樣的危機中，他告訴擁擠在付堂的會眾繼續禱告 ，“願你的國度降臨”。他深信聖經說的，這一切都不是終結，聖經中應許的沒有痛苦、悲傷和死亡的一天必會來臨。他說：“在這個充滿死亡的世界，在這個行將毀滅的帝國，在炸彈橫飛的時候，我們以從未有過的熱情禱告‘願你的國度降臨’！”

      在你身上或你周圍，現在有沒有你內心覺得不應該的事在發生？耶穌教導我們禱告，就在這樣的時刻：“我們在天上的父，願你的名被尊為聖，願你的國度來臨”。

“願你的旨意成就”

            這句話的原文意思是“願你的旨意發生”， 這也是耶穌在釘十字架前所禱告的：“父啊，如果你願意，請把這杯從我這裡拿走吧！但不要成就我的意思，而要成就你的意思” ，當我們如此禱告時，我們是說：“父啊，願你的旨意發生在我身上，透過我，成就在這世界。”
            這就像我們所讀的馬可福音1：14-20， 在那個故事裡，四個猶太漁民照往常那樣出海，做他們祖祖輩輩的營生。他們的生活延續了家族傳統，形成了自己的文化習慣。有一天，普通的一天，一個叫耶穌的人突然來到岸邊告訴他們要悔改相信他，而他們就如此行了；他又呼召他們離開過去的生活，跟隨他；奇妙的是，他們也照做了。聖經說：“他們就離開了在船上的父親西庇太和雇工們，並且跟著耶穌去了”，他們的生命就此改變。

            那就是神的工作在你生命中開始的地方，就像在那四個漁夫生命中開始一樣。你一定要轉向神，讓他成為你生命的中心，這就是悔改的意思。我確信他們生命中都有要悔改的罪和過犯，我們也是！憑信交托給耶穌，相信他---他們如此做了，你呢？這就是神國度的工作在人生命中的開始，當然不意味著他們不再打漁，他們後來也打漁了；但是他們生命中最重要的決定是委身去做耶穌呼召他們去做的。

            這在我們今天會怎樣呢？幾年前，我每週四早晨都和一個年輕的工程師打網球，他來教會只是因為她女朋友說“你不來教會，我也不和你約會”。換場地時，我們停下來談到從自我中心轉而跟隨耶穌的事；幾個月後，他在打球前說：“牧師，我要加入教會，我相信耶穌，願意跟隨他。”

            不過，他的工程師思維還繼續思考新信仰會如何改變他的日常生活。最終在許多個月後，他突破了。那時我正好講哥林多後書5：15，當我們因著信耶穌經歷神的愛時，我們不再為自己活，而是為替我們死而復活的主活。我的朋友說：“這麼簡單的道理卻讓我花了這麼長時間才明白。我信主前，早晨醒來問自己‘我今天想做什麼或我今天不得不做什麼？’如今，我起來後禱告說‘主啊，我相信你，你要我今天做什麼？’”他告訴我一切都改變了。

            他問我，“牧師，你覺得我上正軌了麼？”我說：“你現在做的就是在我們禱告時耶穌教導我們做的事。你正在禱告說‘我們天上的父，願你的國度降臨，願你的旨意行在地上，行在我今天生活中，如同行在天上’，就這樣下去，你不會錯的。”

      這就是我們跟隨耶穌時的道路，同樣發生在我父親身上。在作了多年爵士音樂後，他思想到“一定有比我現在更豐盛的生命，我知道我的生命一定要改變，但我似乎無能無力。” 有一個同事告訴了他有關“神的國度”的事。我們中許多人有這樣的經歷：某一天，我們按部就班生活，和別人一樣做決定，想著怎麼掙更多的錢或更加成功，但就在這一天，你突然被驚醒了，認識到原來神是真的，他認識你，關於耶穌的信息都是真實的。于是你离开过去，轉向耶穌，進入了與神的關係並學習禱告，你禱告說：“天父，我一直想沒有你，我也能掌管人生；但現在願你的國降臨。我不再求‘願我的意思成就’，不，不會了！父啊，在我生命中，在這世上，願你的旨意成就！”

            現在，讓我們做耶穌教導我們的，我們一起禱告：我們在天上的父，願你的名被尊為聖，願你的國度來臨。願你的旨意行在地上，如同行在天上。

榮耀歸給神，

Greg Waybright 博士

主任牧師