Matthew 6:5-13
Introduction: This Lent we are looking at each part of the Lord’s Prayer as we practice using it as a pattern for our prayers. As a model for prayer and a summary of the entire Christian life – the Lord’s Prayer offers us a place to turn in an anxious and overwhelming time. “Your Kingdom Come” is the part of the prayer that most directly speaks to times when crisis hits and our lives (our “kingdoms”) are upended. Such is the time we live in now with COVID-19 bringing unprecedented changes to our lives. Praying these three words can give us new perspective and hope no matter what is happening around us and inside us. Let’s see how:
1. What Does It Mean?
The Bible speaks of the kingdom of God in two senses. In the first sense, God’s kingdom is his sovereign rule over all things that happen. As King, God never loses his ultimate control over the universe. We can take great comfort in this when things happen that don’t conform to God’s good design and ultimate intention for the world. When everything seems to be going haywire and is out of control - God is still on the throne. He never loses control. Things like disease and virus do not shake Him and cannot unseat his reign. When things are mysterious and confusing to us, we can rest in this - God overrules all sin, evil, suffering. He turns the tables on these things to accomplish His greater purposes. In this sense, no matter what is happening, we can rest in the truth that God is still the King who rules over all things.
But this is not the primary sense in which is Jesus is using the word “kingdom” here. He’s telling us to ask for a kingdom to come - implying that we are asking for a kingdom that is not yet fully present. In this sense of the kingdom, sin and suffering are not just overruled by God – sin, evil and suffering are overcome by God. This is the central idea and theme in Jesus’ life and ministry. Jesus life, teaching and miracles could be summarized like this – “I have come to re-establish God’s rule in human lives, relationships and in all creation. This is what it looks like!” He proclaimed the coming of the kingdom in his teaching. He “previewed” the kingdom in his miracles (see Matt. 4:23, 9:35-36).
This can bring us great comfort in times like these. There is a kingdom, a realm, outside of all the pain, death, sickness, sin and selfishness we experience in our kingdoms here. For all who turn over their lives to Jesus, this kingdom comes now, in part, and one day will come fully and forever.
2. How We Are to Pray It
Just as there are two senses of the kingdom in the bible, there are two tenses of the kingdom Jesus told us to pray to come – it is an already and not yet kingdom. The kingdom has come with Jesus’ first coming into the world and will fully come in his second coming. Here’s how this informs our prayers:
The kingdom has not yet come, so we lament in prayer. When Jesus told us to pray, “Your kingdom come”, he gave us more than permission to lament, he commanded us to pray prayers of lament. Jesus often said, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”. In this prayer, Jesus is saying, “Lament for the kingdom of God has not yet come fully”. He is telling us we can pray with full honesty about all the ways we experience the reality that God’s kingdom has not yet come. Lament is expressing our sorrow to God. It is how God meets us with comfort, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted” (Matt. 5:4).
Praying “Your kingdom come” is saying to God, “Living in this broken world of suffering and sickness is hard! It’s painful, scary and confusing.” Lament is crying out like the Psalmists, “How long!?”, “Why do you stand far off!?” The Bible assures us, God puts all our “tears in a bottle” (Psalm 56:8). He hears our laments and through them pulls us closer to his own Spirit who groans for the full redemption of all things (Romans 8:26).
The kingdom will come, so we long with hope in prayer. Praying “your kingdom come” is longing with hope for the kingdom to come. It’s asking God to bring as much (or all!) of his coming kingdom into our present. This is how we find hope in prayer. Hope in the Bible is not simply to wish for something to happen. Biblical hope is living in the present according to a certain future reality. We don't know the specifics of what the future holds in the short term BUT we do know one day this prayer will be fully answered. God’s kingdom will come. What are we hoping and asking for God to do now?
“In prayer, the believer beseeches the God of the future with the desire that the marks of God’s rule (forgiveness, sustenance, deliverance, and the Spirit’s fullness) may be present in the current situation, which is filled with want, need and insufficiency. Petitionary prayer, in other words, requests the coming of the future into the present.” (Stanley Grenz)
Right now, we all feel the want, need and insufficiency of our own bodies, our economies, our government, our health care system (while we thank God for all their heroic efforts!), our technology and our own wisdom. Jesus tells us to ask for the mercy, healing, wisdom and peace of God’s future rule to come into the present. He says, “Do not fear little flock; your father delights to give you the kingdom! (Luke 12:32)”. We can pray with hope - this is a prayer God delights to answer - in his own timing and wisdom.
The kingdom is coming so we lay down our lives in prayer. This may be the hardest part of this prayer. The words “kingdom come” give hope but the word “your” requires humility. It means laying down everything. This is so hard in a time of crisis like we are facing. It means laying down our timing and trusting in God’s. He is the king. It means laying down our demands and trusting in his provision, laying down our own judgment and letting Him be king.
We do this knowing what kind of king He is. This is most clearly seen in Christ at the cross. It’s the only time he took up a crown, the only time he accepted the title of “King” as it was written in the sign over his head. He is the king who laid down his life for us. The king who took the worst for us so we could know the best is yet to come for us. He is a king of sacrificial love, a servant who gave his life to heal the world.
The kingdom will come because the king came to die for us. This enables us to lay down our lives in prayer – pledging ourselves to his service. Knowing the kingdom of God comes in ways we would not expect - through suffering, the washing of feet, the cross, we ask to be ready to lay down our lives for others (1 John 3:16-19) so they might find the peace and the healing of the kingdom to come.
REFLECT OR DISCUSS
What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?
In your own words define what we are asking for when we pray, “Your Kingdom Come”. What kinds of prayers does this part of the Lord’s Prayer encourage us to pray during this unprecedented challenge with COVID-19?
How can knowing what the kingdom of God is bring us comfort in this time of uncertainty and fear?
What does it meant to lament in prayer? Why do most avoid it? How can it help us in times of crisis?
How does this prayer give us hope in all our prayers of petition (ie requests) to God? What kinds of things should be asking for now? How does knowing God will one day answer this prayer give you hope?
How are you having a hard time laying down your life in trust and service to God as King in this difficult time?
PRAY | Spend time yourself or with a group slowly praying “Your Kingdom Come”.
Lament – Cry out to God with honesty telling him your experience and struggles in this time
Long – Ask God with hope and boldness for anything that will be true of his coming future kingdom
Lay Down – Ask God to help you lay down your life to him trusting in his reign and for others that they might know Him as King