“The Lord’s Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come” Pastor Josh
I begin today’s sermon about where I ended last Sunday.
Sometimes the Lord’s prayer feels rote, routine, average, ordinary, and even ineffective. Billions of Christians in the past and present have prayed this prayer, and yet, where is the kingdom? Where is the daily bread that feeds starving children and adults?
Where is the abundance of accountability and forgiveness?
Where is the change of heart that this prayer should lead to?
Has this not happened because we have not fully opened our hearts to its message but only partially?
Have we fully allowed ourselves to be transformed by it? Have we fully opened ourselves to God to guide and direct our lives through this prayer?
Have we lost the meaning behind these words? Have we prayed it so often that we have forgotten?
What we need to do is see the Lord’s Prayer anew. We need to dwell on its words so it can change us. We need to be open to that change, need to be open to the new perspective, which may lead us to unexpected places.
We must not let the Lord’s Prayer become a routine, stagnant prayer that we pray mindlessly without any remembrance of what it should and can mean.
Today, as part of our sermon series, I want to focus on “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This line comes more directly from the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew primarily uses the Kingdom of Heaven language rather than the Kingdom of God, which Luke and Mark and John use. When you read them in the Gospels, we should read them as mostly interchangeable.
The kingdom of God is not a secondary issue to Jesus’ ministry. The kingdom of God is primary. It is a central issue. For we see in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John a combined mention… the Kingdom of God/Heaven, 84 times. In the Gospel according to Luke alone, Jesus mentions it 32 different times. In all the Gospels, repent/repentance: 19 times; forgive/forgiveness: 23 times. sin/sinner: 37 times.
Jesus has two major ways to talk about the Kingdom of God and what it’s like: miracles and parables. Each miracle is a testament to the coming Kingdom of God. Every miracle in the Gospels demonstrates the inbreaking of God’s kingdom on earth.
The parables, on the other hand, give expression through imagery of God’s kingdom. Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that grows into a large tree growing between 6-10 feet, a place where the birds of the air find shelter. Metaphorically, in biblical imagery, trees were symbolic of the kingdom of God as a protective shelter, representing, as in Ezekiel, all different groups of people finding refuge.
Well, what is the kingdom of God like? The kingdom of God is about life, living the fullness of life, because Jesus says that he came so that we may have life and have it abundantly. Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is near; he says that the Kingdom of God is among you.
The Kingdom of God is a vast landscape of mutual aid and refuge.
We see this in the parable we read this morning. A rich landowner’s land has produced so much food that he said to himself he needed to tear down the barns he had and build bigger ones to hold all of his excess grain and goods. … He says to his Soul: Relax, eat, drink, be merry!
Let’s break this story down a bit: this man already has barns to store his grains and goods that he needs to live off of, but he wants bigger ones; he wants to hoard his excess wealth. And he’s only caring about himself; he only cares about himself and his comfort. But what about everyone else? What about the people whose crops didn’t produce enough? What about the people who are hungry?
Leviticus 19: 9-10 writes, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.”
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that he violated this: that he did not leave a portion for the poor and the stranger.
What he did then was ignore his responsibility for others.
In our modern context, we might say his barns are like savings and checking accounts, and equities. So, we can say, How much are we tied to our money? How often do we worry that we might not have enough? How have we ignored the plight of others near and far so that we do not need to care? So, we do not need to take responsibility?
The Lord’s prayer is not a call to passivity. It begs for us to take action. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for the kingdom of God to come. But that is not where we stop. We continue on, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Where we can make a difference, we need to make it. Prayer plus action.
I like the New Zealand version, which translates it and helps make it a little clearer. ”The way of justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.”
Jesus says pray: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
These words should move us to take action. These words should be our guide for how we may manifest the kingdom of God on earth now. Remind us to take action where we can. To take responsibility.
Here’s a parable to highlight this point: An extended family goes out to dinner on one of the busiest days of the year. There in a banquet hall with well over a hundred people in long rows of tables in tight spaces eating. There’s confusion everywhere. When the waiter arrives, the extended family wants each individual family unit to have their own separate check.
So when it’s time to receive the checks, it’s confusing for the waiter to figure out how many separate te checks are needed. Even though the waiter had been keeping track, it was complicated because one of the family units was going back and forth from the table. So when it’s time to receive the checks and pay, the waiter is confused about how many separate family units are part of this large family. The waiter becomes frustrated, overwhelmed, and starts to tear up.
The patriarch of the extended family asks the waiter, “Do we pay with you or at the cashier?” Trying to be polite and flexible, the waiter replies, “It’s up to you.”
Across the table, another family member suggests that paying at the register would probably be the most helpful option. Despite this, one woman in the group says, “I said a prayer for the waiter,” but makes no effort to ease the process.
Another family member hears this and thinks, “Prayer is good—but there’s also something we can do to help.” So, they quietly go and pay at the cashier, making the process smoother for the overwhelmed waiter.
In the end, who truly combined prayer with action?
The question then always is, what can you do to bring a bit of the kingdom of God near? How can we match our prayers with action?
Over the last week, we have seen starving, emaciated people in Gaza. It is easy to look at the situation and only pray because we think we do not know what we can do. But I don’t think that is completely the case.
One option is to call members of Congress from both parties and ask them to support aid, and you can donate to organizations like World Central Kitchen, an organization founded by the chef José Andrés. I have donated several times to them. They have been serving meals in Gaza for well over a year. World Food Program. International Rescue Committee. All of these are highly rated.
“We are always called to pray for thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and we are called to enact it here.
With our entire heart and soul, we pray, and with our entire heart and soul, we take action.”
Amen.