Rev. David Holwick N Lord's Prayer, #3
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 28, 2013
Matthew 6:10
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I. Why is our world so messed up?
A. Expressions of dismay following the Boston terror bombings.
1) Many have asked why there is so much violence in the world.
2) Poignant photo of 8-year-old victim Martin Richard holding
up a sign that said, "No more hurting people. Peace."
3) Some perspective - car bombs killed 10 times as many people
in Iraq that same day.
B. The Bible says God has something better for us.
1) A world of peace and justice and prosperity.
2) We have waited for it so long, some wonder if it will ever
happen, or if it even could happen.
a) Is the idea of a perfect world just wishful thinking?
b) There have been many false predictions and
disappointments, especially by conservative Christians.
c) But this does not mean the real thing is a fiction.
C. Jesus put God's kingdom at the top of his agenda.
1) Jesus referred to God's kingdom from his first sermon to
the Last Supper. (Even on the cross, if you identify
"Paradise" with God's kingdom.)
a) He tells us to "seek ye first the kingdom of God." 6:33
b) He compares it to a treasure that is worth everything
you possess. 13:44
c) He says it has priority over all other relationships
and possessions. Luke 18:29-30
d) Those who belong to God's kingdom are blessed; everyone
else will gnash their teeth for eternity. 13:42
2) In Lord's Prayer, right after we praise God, we are to ask
God to send his kingdom to earth. 6:10
a) Do you consider yourself a citizen of God's kingdom?
b) Are you certain, or just kind of hopeful?
II. It is GOD's kingdom.
A. Humans have created plenty kingdoms on their own.
1) James Boice says there have been 21 great civilizations.
2) Writing in 1972 he said:
"We know that even the United States of America and the
Soviet Union, although now at the pinnacle of world power,
will not be able to escape the inexorable law of God
for history:
'Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach
to any people' (Proverbs 14:34).
Pride can bring each of them down." (p. 206)
Boice would not have believed that in only 17 years, the
Soviet Union would be dismantled.
America is still hanging in there - but for how much longer?
B. God's kingdom takes priority over all others.
1) According to the prophet Daniel, God has the ultimate
control over human governments.
In Daniel 5:21 he says:
"The Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men
and sets over them anyone he wishes."
2) Human governments like to wrap themselves in religious
language as if they represent God's values.
a) Maybe, but probably not.
b) Every human institution falls short of God's idea
whether it is a government or a church.
III. We should pray for his kingdom to come soon.
A. Jesus is referring to what we call the Second Coming.
1) In times of turmoil and upheaval, like right now, Christians
get excited about the return of Jesus to earth.
2) But we often give it the wrong emphasis.
a) Ask us about the Second Coming and we talk about people
disappearing in a rapture and cars crashing and
the antichrist torturing people.
1> We urge people to accept Christ before it's too late.
2> It is all about avoiding the bad stuff.
b) We don't say much about the good stuff.
1> Jesus loved the good stuff.
2> He pointed to God's ultimate goal, a perfect world.
B. The Old Testament prophets give an interesting picture.
1) They described it as a place where old people would
watch children playing in the streets. Zech 8:4
2) Everyone will get justice and not be ripped off.
3) No one would lack good health, or food.
4) And no one will hound you about religion, because
everyone will genuinely love God. Jer 31:34
IV. Jesus put a twist on the kingdom of God.
A. Most people back then, and now, focused on a future kingdom.
1) Many religious people asked Jesus what the timetable was.
a) They expected the trumpet, the Messiah on a white
horse, millions of people in his heavenly army.
b) Harold Camping would have fit right in.
2) Jesus' own disciples, even after his resurrection,
wanted to know the date the kingdom would come.
a) Of course, in the Lord's Prayer itself we are asking
for the kingdom to come, so there is some sense
in which it is not yet here.
B. Jesus says in a sense, the kingdom is already here.
1) Jesus saw his success over demons as evidence that
the kingdom had arrived. Matt 12:28
2) In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus says it is not something you can
watch for, because it is around us now.
a) The NIV translates verse 21 as "within you."
b) It is better to translate it as "among you."
1> Jesus says people can enter the kingdom, but he
never says the kingdom enters you.
2> But the kingdom seems to be wherever believers are.
3) What would evidence of this kingdom be?
a) When Christians love each other and serve God from the
heart, we get a taste of the kingdom.
b) The Apostle Paul says in Romans 14:17:
"The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and
drinking [i.e., religious rules], but of
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
V. Does it get any better than this?
A. Many non-Christians are not impressed by what they see.
Back in 1933, Martin Buber, a Jew who admired Jesus,
held a discussion with a New Testament scholar.
Buber explained why his admiration did not result in
conversion:
"The church rests on its faith that the Christ has come,
and that this is the redemption which God has
bestowed on mankind.
We, Israel [the Jews], are not able to believe this....
We know more deeply, more truly, that world history has
not been turned upside down to its very foundations --
that the world is not redeemed.
We sense its unredeemedness."
#4596
Keep in mind that 1933 is the year that Hitler came to power.
"Redeemedness" got a lot thinner after that.
1) Our evidence of present kingdom is only a few glimpses.
a) So while the kingdom is sort of here, it is not here.
b) We still wait for its total and visible arrival.
B. You can't force the finale.
1) Armies and politics won't bring it.
a) In the past, nations and denominations tried to
dominate others in the name of Jesus.
b) Extremist Muslims are trying to do something similar.
2) God will bring the kingdom his own way, in his own time.
VI. In the meantime, we can put his world into our world.
A. We can think of the kingdom as a person more than a place.
The Apostle Paul did this.
Unlike Jesus, Paul rarely mentions the kingdom of God.
But Paul talks about being "in Christ" all the time.
When you become a Christian, you need to act like a citizen.
Max Lucado writes:
When you say, "Thy kingdom come," you are inviting the
Messiah himself to walk into your world -- you can't have
the kingdom without the king.
We are saying, "Come, my King! Take your throne in our land.
Be present in my heart.
Be present [where I work].
Come into my marriage.
Be Lord of my family, my fears, my doubts."
This is not a feeble request.
It is a bold appeal for God to occupy every corner of your
life.
Sermon #710
B. How much of your world does Jesus have?
1) I guess he has an hour this Sunday.
a) What about Monday?
2) What areas are off-limits for Jesus?
a) Live in such a way that others will believe God is real.
b) Make them want to have what you have.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
James Boice, “The Sermon on the Mount,” (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972).
#4596 “The Stealth Kingdom,” Philip Yancey, Discipleship Journal #108,
Nov/Dec 1998, p. 52. The article is adapted from Yancey’s
book “The Jesus I Never Knew" (Zondervan Publications, 1995).
Sermon #710 “Your Kingdom Come,” Rev. Dave Wilkinson, Moorpark
Presbyterian Church (PCUSA); Moorpark, California;
<http://www.moorparkpres.org/pages/sermons.htm>, May 2, 1999.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
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