Seeds for 06/08/2023 - Matthew 6:9-13, part 4
Scripture: 9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’”
Observation: After addressing God and reverencing His name, we continue with the focus on God Himself: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
We pray our theology and we shape our theology by our praying. Here is an excellent example of this back-and-forth.
Jesus teaches us to pray for what God wants. God wants the advance of His kingdom and the doing of His will. So before we pray for our needs and wants, we pray for what He wants. As it happens, if His kingdom has arrived and His will is being done, then our needs will be addressed within that, won’t they?
All of creation is God’s handiwork and gives glory to Him. Yet, the realities of real evil and human sinfulness mean that God’s will is not perfectly done and God’s kingdom is not fully manifested. These go hand in hand, don’t they? Isn’t God’s kingdom the “realm of His reign”—in other words, where God’s will is done? So, wherever God’s will is being obeyed and carried out, earth is like heaven.
Jesus instructs us to pray not to escape earth for heaven, but that earth would become more like heaven. Wherever Jesus went, God’s kingdom was manifested because God’s reign and God’s will were perfectly realized in Jesus Himself. Jesus’ prayer is a prayer for the Church in that we are His Body. As we become more Christlike through participation with the grace-filled working of God’s Spirit, we grow in faithful obedience. As we grow faithful obedience, His will is done and His kingdom reign happen in our lives. Jesus advances God’s kingdom because he advances His reign in His disciples, in His Church.
God’s kingdom advances through transformed lives not captured territory.
So, this petition seeking what God wants is an invitation to dream. What would it look like if God’s will was done and heaven was experienced here? What would it look like for the prayer Jesus taught us to be answered in and through my life? In and through my church?
Application:
How can using the Lord’s Prayer in your personal prayers prompt you to dream about how God might answer that prayer in and through you?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, may your kingdom come and your will be done in me as it is in heaven. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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