The Kingdom of God-Master Teacher-Matthew 6:10

For the Kingdom of GOD is not a matter of talk, but of power.” 1 Cor. 4:20

Have you had a hard day? Have you been pushed, bullied, lost your way, felt like you blended into the walls and no one cared that you were there? Hold your head up. You are a child of the King! He loves you so much He went the distance for you and paid the ultimate cost for you. He defeated your worst enemy. Someday He will take you away to His home where He sits on the throne and judges the world. If the world is taking you captive, remember you are His beloved.

All that sounds good, but how does it apply practically? Exactly what does it mean to live a victorious life just because we are Christians, and as such have an inheritance in Christ when we can’t even manage to keep our relationships here on earth peaceable, much less handle the daily stresses of life? Why aren’t we conquerors, when the word promises that we’re more than that? Sometimes we’re victims, not victors. At least that’s what it feels like when the world is laughing at us, right?

Take heart. As it says in Hebrews 4:14-16, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

Practically speaking it really takes adjusting our entire outlook on life. I’m talking about a major paradigm shift from how we think we exist in the context of our life, our history, and our society. It’s taking our Christianity from a moral code of ethics, and putting our citizenship, our social position, and our very identity completely into submission to the sovereignty of God most High, and understanding how completely dependent on Him that makes us. It is to surrender all, without so much as a whimper of protest, as we see all that we’ve invested in being stripped away from us. All because we stand to gain what He has for us, even though we haven’t seen what’s behind door number three, but we know it’s got to be better than what was behind doors one and two. It’s trusting in the LORD, and not ourselves.

As the Master Teacher continued to expound on the approach we ought to take in prayer at the sermon on the mount, He offered three lines that speak to our relationship with the Father while acknowledging His position as King.  

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10

Overall, these three lines of the Lord’s prayer often are over looked and rushed right through without given much thought. Most people would see them as a desire to have Jesus return and establish His kingdom, but why would Jesus be telling the people there on the mount to pray for what was already happening right before their eyes? He was there with them. He was directing them to pray, in such a way as to establish God’s kingdom within them. “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold the kingdom is in the midst of you.” Luke 17:20-21 When we look at the placement of these lines in the prayer, it is clear the first part, as established in the last blog/teaching, was to identify God’s supremacy, and now these lines establish His sovereignty. It is saying, “God, you govern me.

When God established Israel as a people through Jacob, He changed Jacob’s name from ‘Heel grabber’ or what could be translated as one who trips another up, like a usurper or supplanter, to Israel which means “one who triumphs or contends with God.” It was meant to show that Jacob had subjected himself to the will of God. Another translation is “Governed by God.”

In our day to be under the submission of governing authorities has become something to be put down. Our media has made the once honored positions of government fodder for a Roman circus rather than an esteemed and highly sought after position of public service. Instead of the dream being that any young man or woman growing up to be president, it’s easier to change the world by going on a reality television show. At least then the person has a better chance of being admired than a candidate for public office does. Yet, there is a blessing in submission and subjecting oneself to the will of God.

Jacob wrestled with God, holding fast to Him, all night long. If we picture what that must have been like we can compare it to the child who is about to be left by the parent, and the child will not let go. I was a Navy brat. One time, my father had been on the ship for months, and I was about ten-years-old. We lived a few states away because my parents owned a house there, so when my dad came off the ship he would drive back to our house two states from the base, about a fourteen-hour drive. It was a Saturday morning and I was doing my chores, and I heard a knock on the door. I went to the door, and there he was, “Daddy!” I screamed. My poor exhausted father was knocked on his rear as I tackled him. I flew at him, all arms and legs, like a monkey flying through a tree. As soon as he could get up, and I let him go, boom! My sister hit him with the same velocity as I did. She was bigger and heavier than I was. Still, he loved it! My brothers joined the dog pile, and then my mom. I picture Jacob’s wrestling like that. He was going home, and he needed God with him. Just like us kids needed our dad, He wasn’t going to let go until he was assured it really was Him, and he wasn’t alone. He said as much. “Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.’ But he said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’” Genesis 32:26.

So, Jesus says to say, “Your kingdom come.” These words are not merely asking God to come and rule over the earth. He is the creator; He does rule over the earth. These three words are much more than that. These three words are both an invitation and a pledge for those who are citizens of the kingdom. When a soldier goes into the service he pledges to defend the country from enemies, both foreign and domestic unto death. This is quite a promise. When we say the words “Your kingdom come” we are basically doing the same thing. We are submitting ourselves totally to the call of the kingdom on our lives. We are saying, “The Kingdom comes first. I’ve counted all as lost. I move toward the upward call of Jesus on my life.” If we aren’t ready to do that, we shouldn’t say it. No soldier wants to be in the heat of battle and have the guy beside him say, “I’m done with this, it’s not what I expected, I’m out, see ya,” and just leave his brothers without cover. Every soldier trains for that moment, and they go in equipped mentally, knowing they might not come out of it. That’s why we owe them our gratitude. And that’s why when we say the words, “Your kingdom come,” even if we view it as when Jesus returns, we should not take it lightly. We must see ourselves as enlisted in the kingdom as well, and as such we must submit.

There is a blessing in submission. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will being done in the believer’s life is totally up to the believer. Now, let me restate that. For God’s will to be done in the believer’s life, it is totally up to the believer. Why? Because, as it says in Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Love is a choice we make. I encourage you to read Romans 8 with that thought in mind. We must continually choose God, not just once, but every moment of every day. God’s will in our lives can only be done if we’re not in rebellion to it. We are either choosing to do His will or we’re in rebellion. There is no middle ground. People would love to read the first half of Romans 8:28, but they miss the second part, especially the submission part. That’s because people would rather have God working for them instead of having to submit to God. Newsflash—His way is much better and easier. And I can prove it!

Garden of Eden- God’s way- one commandment- Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but you can eat every other tree, note- before that we could eat of the tree of life, but not after. Man’s way-rebellion to God’s command got us out of the garden, no more tree of life, and more commandments because God now had to warn us because we now ‘know’ what’s good and bad and choose to do bad.

The Wilderness- God’s way- three-day journey across the Red Sea and back to the land of Canaan to inherit the “Land flowing with Milk and Honey”. Man’s way—Barely left Egypt and start complaining, and the moment Moses’ back is turned they form their own god so they can practice whatever they want. Rebellion ensues and they spend 40 years wandering through the desert until the last of that generation  died off.

Taking the land- God gives them the land all way back to the Euphrates and to the North as far as the mountains of Ararat. Israel stops short, due to the years of war, and everyone decides enough is enough, so they stop a third of the way in, as a result Israel is at war with their neighbors throughout their history and is eventually carried off by a people group they could have defeated had they just obeyed in the first place.

Failing to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah- God’s way was to provide for the redemption of Israel as a nation, and in doing so he provided for the ransom of the whole world as spelled out in Isaiah 51-53. Man’s way—to fail to admit Jesus as the atonement for sin and therefore suffer the continual consequence for sin. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire had conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. James 1:14-15

 Refusing to call upon the Name of the Lord- God’s way- “For ‘whoever calls on the name of LORD shall be saved.” Romans 10:13 Man’s way--
The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, there is none who does good.” Psalm 14:1

Living out the will of God requires sacrifice. Jesus said to be his disciple we must pick up our cross and follow Him. We must realize that we are carrying a cross, an object of death to self, and we are taking it to a place where we will be sacrificing as He did, putting aside our sin to take up a new life. This new life can only be found in the kingdom of God, where our King sits on the throne. The blessing of submitting to His authority is knowing that we serve a King who loves us enough to have carried the cross for us to the death we deserved and suffered it for us. It’s Jesus switching his cross for ours, and taking what we deserve to give us His victory. None of the kings of this world would do that for their subjects. Their expectation is for their subjects’ allegiance to be to the death, but not the king’s death but for the king’s gain of worldly wealth and riches, which will perish. Our King’s gain is us, because He loves us.   

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, not any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 

Username: Jesus- The Master Teacher- Matthew 6:9

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” Philippians 2:9

Can you imagine what it would be like if to enter heaven you had to have a username and password, but you forgot it? Imagine the frustration you would feel if there was no forgot username/password available to you. Of course, you try all the old usernames and passwords you could remember, but what if you were immediately blocked from continuing to try, and there was no customer service contact to email you a link to fix it. That name, that one username, would become very important to you if it was linked to your eternal destination. After all, we get upset if we forget our online banking information and suffer the inconvenience of an actual brick and mortar branch to get access to our money. That’s temporary. When eternity is on the line it would be insufferable. It would be… Hell to pay.

Now imagine if you could get anything on the internet, access to anything you wanted, at an amazing speed, without having to surf through the identification firewalls, all because you had a username that you logged on with only once. The world was at your disposal, and every grain of knowledge out there was yours for the asking simply because of the initial keystrokes you made. Google was at your command, nothing was blocked, and every published work that ever existed was at your beck and call, free of charge, just because of the username. What power would that wield? Could you handle it?  Would you resort to feeding your fleshly desires, or your mind, or your spirit? It’s such a temptation, isn’t it?

But what if, that username came with one condition? What if that username belonged to someone else, and you just had access to it? What if when you used it, the navigations you made reflected on that person? Would that make a difference to you? Would it make you feel more or less responsible for your actions?

This scenario is one I encourage us to consider as we go through our lives and act as “Christians”. As we come to the next lesson our Master Teacher calls us to, and we examine only one verse in the Bible, we need to consider   which manner we carry His name into our daily lives.

“Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Matt.6:9

The very idea, at the time, that Jesus gave instruction on how to pray to the multitude was mind blowing, but to take the next step, and to lay out the actual manner of approaching God, the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with words from their mouths, was something they could not understand. In their culture, it was the priests who spoke to God on their behalf. They gathered in corporate settings or at appointed times to make contrition to God. They needed an intermediary in their worldview, but for the average Jew to pray was something he could only hope to do, but for the most part didn’t expect that he alone could be heard without a priest making intercession for him. Yet Jesus had just told them that God did hear their prayers. The average man sitting there was probably thinking, “Then what do I say to Him?” So, Jesus began to lay it out by taking them to the base, the foundation of the relationship. First, everyone needs to know the username.

          “Our Father,”

          Wow! That is not what they, or we should expect. Jesus calls on the person to have a relationship with the God of the universe, the great Creator, the One who spoke everything into existence, and address Him as Father. What does that mean? If you were blessed to have a good father, it means love and affection, and if you didn’t it means you can finally have what you missed from your fleshly parent. God is the best Father. He lavishes His love on us. “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph.3:17 This is the image of a Father who loves His child, and you are that child. Put that into perspective. Wouldn’t that child then reach up to the Father and in love be ready to receive whatever good thing He has for him or her?

          The next two words give further definition to the greatness of God, our Father. “in heaven”. There is something here I want to make clear. Heaven isn’t a place. It’s a presence. It is being in the presence of God. There are places within that presence that we will occupy, but it is to be in the presence of God and not be able to be separated from Him. Hell, on the other hand, is to be out of His presence. Where He is not, I do not want to be. “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Ps. 84:10 

What does it mean to be “Hallowed?” I know it means to be revered and honored, but in the words, “Hallowed be Your Name” what is the point the Teacher is making? We tend to brush over it and say it without ruminating on it. The dictionary doesn’t really give credence to it because in our time we’ve lost the ability to know what it means to honor someone just because of their position. Yet, as believers we are supposed to give honor to those in authority over us, regardless of whether we ‘voted’ for them. “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” Titus 3:1-2 If we can’t be honoring to those we can see, how do we expect to be honoring to the One we can’t see? If we understood the power that His Name wields when we use it, then we could give it the Honor it deserves.

          In Exodus 3:14, Moses asks God who he should tell the Israelites has sent him. And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Why would God choose those two words for His name? The answer is because of the questions we ask Him. “Who’s going to help me with this problem?” His answer, “I AM.”  “How will I pay this bill; make it through this illness; see the end of the situation alone; is anyone there?”  He says, “I AM.”  It’s the perfect Name for a perfect God who loves us perfectly.  For the Israelites their question was, “Who will lead us?”  Isn’t that the same question we ask today? Who will lead us? God says, “I AM.”

      There is no doubt that when you name drop ‘Jesus’ in a public forum it stirs up controversy at the very least, and, more often than not, it will divide people. There are people who will come to blows over our right to say His name, or not to say His name in a school, court, or other ‘public’ building. The Name has power. It was prophesied in Acts 3:38-39 when Gamaliel spoke of him saying, “And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.” People still react with the same vehemence they did back then to the Name of Jesus. It’s almost as though it’s a forbidden word, yet we hear cuss words dropped in conversation as though it was proper etiquette to use them. Jesus told us this would happen. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” John 15:20 If it was happening two millennia ago on the heels of the resurrection, why would we expect the enemy to have changed his strategy since then?

          How we act as believers is a direct reflection on our LORD as long as we are claiming His Name as our identity. When you wear that t-shirt with He>I, or the fish symbol on your car, or you blast the gospel music out your windows, you are reflecting Christ, no matter what your countenance is like. If that t-shirt houses an angry, tense body, that car is cutting people off and breaking the rules of the road with total disregard for every other driver, and that music is to drown out the conversations of people around you, then perhaps the vision of what the world sees as Jesus is skewed. We all fall short in our representation of our Lord, but we should strive to be better each time we’re sent out. As the moon, which is just a rock floating in space, reflects the light of the sun, so we should reflect the light of Christ. Sometimes we aren’t so bright, but at other times we make that night is day. Our life username gives or denies us access to more than just what we can find on the internet. But in the light of eternity, what name we place our faith in is where our identity really lies.

 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Col.3:17