Who’s in charge here?

Lord’s Prayer, Pt. 3

John 2:13-22, Matthew 6:10

March 19, 2006

Third week of lent—can you believe that Easter is only three weeks away?

In today’s scripture passage from John, we catch a rare glimpse of an angry Jesus who chases people out of the Temple because they have turned God’s house into a market place.

The problem here was that they took what God had created and kind of commandeered it, saying “Okay God, we know what your will is for this place.  We’ll take it from here.”

Apparently, Jesus did not agree.

It seems that our collective conscience has always struggled with the question of who’s in charge, of sovereignty in our lives.  We even named this struggle in our television programs:

“Charles in charge”: Scott Baio—college student who becomes a live-in nanny.

“Who’s the Boss?”: Tony Danza—hired as a housekeeper.

We all know that just because we say something, like, we’re in charge, doesn’t necessarily make it so.

But I want to suggest that one of the most powerful statements that we will ever make takes place in this prayer that Jesus gave us as a model—The Lord’s Prayer. Especially in the phrase before us today, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s a powerful statement, but as powerful as it is, it seems to have very little effect on us.

Why is that? Part of the answer lies in not understanding what it is we’re saying. Have any of you ever clicked “I agree” on a software installation without reading the “end user agreement”? Sometimes I think we approach prayer the same way.
Consider what it is we’re praying for when we use The Lord’s Prayer. We are seeking God’s Kingdom and God’s will.

“Your kingdom come.” The word “kingdom” in the Greek means “rule” or “reign.” To pray, “Your kingdom come” is to pray that God may take up reigning residence in the hearts and lives of those who are in rebellion—us.

It is a prayer for salvation, for kingdom citizenship. Can you imagine what would happen if we were preoccupied with the coming of God’s kingdom? Just think about what would take place in this community if we were determined to pray that God’s kingdom rule would make itself known in the lives of our neighbors and co-workers! Can you imagine how our church would be different if each of us was concerned more about God’s kingdom than our own?

That is, what if God’s power and right to be the Lord and boss of all of creation were first and foremost in our minds and hearts?  And it’s not only his Kingship or reign but also the realm, the place in which God exercises this Lordship. We know from the Bible that eventually a new, perfect Kingdom is on the way. We read in Revelation, chapter 21: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” 

But for now it’s exercised within the world mainly through the Body of Christ—the Church and the individual lives that have been yielded to God’s control.

And because God understands us so well His realm and His reign seems to hit us where we live. So if you pray this prayer you are asking for God’s reign to become fully exhibited in your life. If you pray this prayer you’re telling God that your life can become His realm in which He rules.

And if you want to seek God’s kingdom then you have to seek God’s will.

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When we pray this part we are really saying, “Almighty God, take control of my life and do what you will for your glory.” Prayer is not asking God to do my will. It is bringing me into conformity with His ways. How is God’s will done in heaven? It’s done joyfully, instinctively, immediately, and constantly. To pray this request is to say that we want it to be the same here.

I read a quote by Evelyn Bence who quotes an English visitor as saying, ‘"You Americans are so concerned about being happy," then she goes on to comment that it is, “as if our kingdoms were the focal point of God’s designs rather than God’s kingdom to be the focal point of ours.”

What if it were our will which is done?  In Jim Carry’s 2003 movie “Bruce Almighty” you have a reporter who never gets the breaks and blames God for it all. God gets tired of hearing his complaints and lets Jim Carey (Bruce) be God for a week to see how tough it is.

(Show clip from “Bruce Almighty”)

At first, Bruce thinks that it’s great, and does all sorts of things with his new-found Godly powers. 

But when he attempts to answer prayers, he becomes overwhelmed because there are just so many.  So, playing God, he decides to say “yes” to everyone’s prayers and give the people what they want.

Soon, of course, we find that all around the world things are getting out of control because the people’s wills are being done, and not God’s.

It’s a big mess, and we learn that God does indeed know what is best for us, and that we need the guidance of God’s will in order to save us from ourselves!

Our human nature cries out, “I want my way”  and “I want to be in control.”
In fact, if we were really honest, we would change the prayer to say,
"my kingdom come,
my will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. "
The Self Centered Human Translation

God’s will isn’t hard to figure out or see. In fact the New Testament gives us some pretty straightforward answers to what God’s will is. The problem is we don’t like them because they get in the way of our own kingdoms. They get in the way of doing what we want. They stop us from being our own lords.

God’s will involves praying and giving thanks in ALL situations. Listen to how Paul instructs the believers, “pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
So when you lose a job you give thanks. When things don’t go the way you want them to with a friend you give thanks. When you find that your health has gone south you give thanks. Why?

The easy answer is because God tells us to. The longer answer is perhaps because it’s through these situations that we discover changes we have to make in our lives so that we’re living in line with God’s kingdom and not our own. Hey, no one ever said that following God would be easy.

There is a quotation by J.I. Packer which says, “It needs to be said loud and clear that in the kingdom of God there ain’t no comfort zone and never will be.”
But doing God’s will marks us as Jesus’ sisters and brothers (Mark 3:35 ).

Doing God’s will also sets us up to receive eternal blessings. Heaven is reserved for those who love Jesus and that means those who keep His commandments. Not keeping His commandments on our terms but on God’s terms. We are to love the Lord our God totally and love our neighbors as ourselves. Those who do this are living within the will of God.

God’s will sets us apart for service. Over and over again Paul tells his readers that he’d been chosen by the will of God. Mark that because Paul isn’t alone. God has called each of us. God’s desire is for every man, woman and child to seek after Him, with the opportunity to respond by serving others.

Listen to Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

He’s how Eugene Peterson’s The Message says it, “So here’s what I want you to do, with God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

When we’ve given our lives to God’s control, letting the Kingship of God rule over us, we then discover how pleasing and perfect God’s will is for us no matter what situations we’ve gotten ourselves into.

I’d like for you to ask yourself three questions today, and to even meditate on them during the week:
- Is God the Lord of my life?
- What percent of my life have I dedicated to God’s Kingdom and what percent to my own kingdom?
- How would my life change if I made the choice to live for Jesus 110% for the next week?
These questions are a great starting place for making ourselves available to God to change us into the people Jesus wants us to be: the subjects of God’s Kingdom here on earth, doing God’s will.

We need to remember this every time we say or hear the Lord’s Prayer.

Repeat this after me: Not my will but yours be done. Thy kingdom come, your will be done.
Pretty unsettling, isn’t it?  If it is, then you join the rest in realizing that your will is not the same as God’s.  And only when we know that we are apart from God can we endeavor to draw closer to God.

Let’s read the Lord’s Prayer together.