THE
LORD’S PRAYER 2ND PETITION
July
1-3, 2017
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Colossians 3:15-17
“YOUR KINGDOM COME!”
1.
To
us.
2.
To
others
Colossians
3:14-17 (NIV 1984) “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since
as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let
the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another
with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with
gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in
word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
Father through Him.”
This is what is recorded in Acts 1:6
right before Jesus ascended to heaven: “So when they met together the disciples
asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to
Israel?” Now, let’s get the timeline
straight here. These are the men who had spent three years being discipled by
Jesus. They had heard Him say many times that he had come to save sinners and
that would happen when he would go to Jerusalem, be handed over to the chief
priests, killed and then come back to life. 40 days before this Jesus had done
just that. For forty days after His resurrection Jesus met on many occasions
with his disciples proving he was alive focusing them on carrying out his work.
So last question you ask Jesus before he visibly leaves is about setting up a
kingdom on earth? Why don’t they get it? Actually this isn’t anything new.
God’s people through the ages have gotten sidetracked on what the kingdom of
God is all about. We always seem to get tricked into being more concerned about
earthly kingdoms than God’s kingdom. Think of the Jewish people before Christ
trying to throw off the Roman empire not realizing how God was using that
Empire to advance His kingdom, providing safe travel and good roads and how He
would use the Roman persecution to spread Christianity. Think of the crusades.
A lot of killing in the name of Christ to control a piece of land. Closer to
home as we celebrate our nation’s birthday we think of how it was founded by
many Christians fleeing religious persecution and then trying to set up a
nation based on Christian principles. We’ve enjoyed that influence in our
country for a long time but now as it has changed have you noticed how easy it
is to think our job as a church or as Christians is to get those laws back that
we like? But our good old USA is not the kingdom of God. Modern day Israel
isn’t either. Neither was Israel at the time Jesus was here. So just what is
the kingdom of God? What does this petition teach us to pray about and be
concerned with?
Nebuchadnezzar knew. After God humbled
him great king Nebuchadnezzar who ruled the great earthly kingdom of Babylon, a
fabulous empire, knew. God’s kingdom was so much bigger, greater than his.
God’s kingdom is eternal, unlimited. Jesus tried to help the Pharisees
understand. God’s kingdom doesn’t have borders. It’s not seen like others. It
exists inside people. Pastor Luther in his explanation to the 2nd
Petition put it this way: “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly father gives
his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy word and lead a godly
life now on earth and forever in heaven.”
When we pray, “Your kingdom come” we
are praying for Christ to rule in our hearts more and more. Just like Paul
wrote to the Christians in Colosse. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”
The kingdom of God is within you. This petition forces each of us to look in
our hearts to see who sits on the throne there. Who is ruling us? Our sinful
nature wants to. And when it does we are selfish and mean. We don’t live at
peace with each other. If you open your Bibles to Colossians three you will see
that is the context, encouragement for Christians to forgive each other, to put
up with each other’s weaknesses, to live at peace. But when our sinful natures
are ruling in the throne room of our hearts our pride will stop us from doing
that. We’ll only see other’s weaknesses not our own, other’s sins, not our own.
Yes, we are capable of being just as mean spirited and selfish as the
unbelievers in our country.
But we don’t have to be. Christ can
rule in our hearts and God has graciously given us a way to answer our own
prayer. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in
you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you
sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
Just as a farmer who prays to God for good crops also plants seed, fertilizes
and waters knowing these are things he can do but only God can make it grow
Christians who are serious about Christ ruling in their hearts use God’s word
regularly. Let the Word of Christ dwell in your richly. Richly. How’s your daily
Bible reading or devotion time going? Richly or poorly? Do you still try to
memorize some passages or is all that hard work from Lutheran school, Sunday
school and Confirmation class squandered, wasted away? How can the word dwell
in us if we don’t have it in our head so it can sink down to our hearts? Where
the word of Christ is Christ rules. God’s kingdom exists. And then it will show
on the outside. “And whatever you do,
whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father through Him.” What a wonderful world it would be if all
people did this. But it starts with us. We pray for God’s kingdom to come to us
and we show we mean it by devoting ourselves to Christ’s word.
The Second Petition, “Your Kingdom
Come” has also been called “the Mission Petition.” What’s meant by that is our
love for other people leads us to think about them and want them to know Christ
and be saved. I have question for you and I want you to think about it
seriously and to answer it truthfully in your heart. Do you believe that people
who die without faith in Jesus suffer an eternity in Hell? I’m not being flip
here. We all know what the Bible says, “Whoever believes in Jesus is not
condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has
not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” That’s what God says. Do
you believe it? If so does it show? Just like we can’t make faith grow in our
hearts but we can devote ourselves to the word of Christ and use Baptism, the
same is true for others. We can’t bring people to faith ourselves but we can
get them the word and sacraments. When you pray the Lord’s prayer ask God to
get His word to others. Consider if God might use your words, your abilities,
your money to make that happen.
What a wonderful world this would be
if more and more people had the peace of Christ ruling their hearts, what a
wonderful country this would be. No, the United States is not the kingdom of
God. Yes, we do have to be careful that we don’t get sidetracked into thinking
it is and that our main work as the Church or as Christians is to change laws
and force other Americans to live God’s morality. Our main task in the kingdom
of God is proclaiming as Savior. At the same time we do love our country. As we
celebrate another Independence Day, another birthday of America as members of
God’s kingdom with the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts let’s keep our
country in our prayers. Let’s strive to be a blessing to it even if it’s not
exactly what we hope it to be. This is not new for citizens of the kingdom of
God. When God’s people found themselves in a foreign country he told them
through the prophet Jeremiah, “Seek the
peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray
to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” To the Christians in Rome under a very evil
government God said, “Let everyone be
subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that
which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by
God. This
is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give
their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe
them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then
respect; if honor, then honor.”
No, this won’t change our country into
the kingdom of God. No Jesus is not going to come back and set up an earthly kingdom.
There is no heaven on earth. But there is a heaven in heaven. Someday that
kingdom will come and by God’s grace we will be a part of it. Amen.
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