“The Lord’s Prayer: Three Commands for God”

Matthew 6:9-13

Margaret I. Manning

Preaching Series: The Lord’s Prayer

This morning, we’ll continue in our series of messages on the Lord’s Prayer. Last Sunday, we discussed the manner of prayer Jesus teaches us through the first phrase of this prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” First, we saw that we belong to God. God is a father to us and God cares for us as a parent would care for a child. Second, we saw that we belong to God’s church, both locally and around the world. God’s caring concern extends beyond our needs as individual sons and daughters, and goes out to the whole church and to the world. Finally, we saw that God belongs to us. God is near to us and not, as many of us have believed far away from us, out there somewhere in outer space when we pray. We learned that the original meaning of the word ‘heavens’ indicates that God is ever-present and all around us – right near us when we call. Within this very first line, Jesus shows our mutual belonging; we are God’s children and God is our loving father.[1]

As Jesus continues his instruction on prayer, the focus remains on God, and his first three requests all concern God’s glory and God’s honor. Jesus has shown his disciples how to pray to God, as their loving Father, now he’s going to teach them what to pray to this God to whom they belong. Jesus makes three requests of God – “hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The first thing to notice is that Jesus continues to focus on God, and has not yet prayed for his own needs, or any needs in general. Jesus orients his prayer manner towards eternal purposes and towards God’s glory. Jesus hasn’t asked God for anything for himself, but rather asks God for things that have everything to do with God’s glory, God’s kingdom, and God’s will, plan and purposes. A second point needs to be made – all of these requests are not ‘wishes’ or ‘dreams’ like you and I might ‘wish’ something would happen, like we might wish we would win the lottery. We understand that the chances of winning the lottery are slim to none, so while we ‘wish’ we don’t really believe we will win the lottery. This is not how Jesus makes these requests of God. Jesus actually states all of these requests as commands: ‘Let your name be sanctified, Let your Kingdom come, Let your will be done.’ In other words, Jesus is saying – ‘God, make it so!’

So, first, Jesus prays, ‘hallowed be thy name,’ or ‘Let your name be holy, be set apart, let it be exalted. Jesus is primarily concerned with God’s name and with its proper reverence. Now in Jesus’ day, the Jews wouldn’t even say the name of God, Yahweh, which is God’s special name that he instructed Moses to share with the people prior to their deliverance out of Egypt.[2] So, if God’s special name could not even be uttered, what is Jesus asking for here when he asks that God’s name be made holy? First, God is holy and Jesus’ concern is that the whole earth would see God’s holiness. We should have the same concern. Our prayers should be that the whole earth would see God’s holiness. How will the earth see God’s holiness? Through the church – that means, through you and me! What Jesus is teaching us here is that we should be concerned, as he was, to uphold God’s reputation and honor since we are God’s representatives on earth.

Let me use a contemporary example to explain. Many of you watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on Friday night. Athletes from all over the world paraded the colors and/or the costumes of their native lands. All of the athletes come as representatives of their country and they want to honor their country, uphold their country’s name and reputation by competing and hopefully by winning medals. They engage in rigorous training, are highly disciplined and work extremely hard to make their country proud and to uphold their country’s honor. In the same way, our daily lives should reflect God’s name, reflect that we know God and reflect something about God’s holiness and God’s character. We should resemble God in our daily lives and help the world to see that we come from ‘God’s country’ as it were. As we come from God’s country, we represent God’s culture and values. In other words, if we pray, ‘let your name be sanctified’ we ought to begin with our lives and make sure we are upholding that holy name.

In addition, in requesting that God’s name be sanctified, Jesus is teaching us that our greatest commitment and concern should be for God’s name and God’s holiness, even if that means the surrender of our own glory and honor. And we must be willing to ask both of ourselves and of our world, ‘where is the name of God currently being dishonored?’ Are we doing all we can to set apart and honor God’s holy name in the way we live our lives? Are we living up to our family name, ‘Christian’ as we interact with others in our daily lives? As we begin to be concerned with God’s honor and glory, before our own honor and glory, we’ll begin to live lives that answer this first request: Lord, let your name be sanctified!

Jesus next requests that God’s kingdom come. Again the force of Jesus’ request is like a command: “Let your kingdom come.” And like his first request, Jesus remains concerned for God’s glory and honor by asking that God’s kingdom arrive on earth just as it is in heaven – but, that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves and we’ll get to that in a minute. But what is Jesus asking God for in this request? Well, let’s begin by understanding the nature of God’s kingdom. First, when the bible speaks of God’s kingdom, it’s really speaking of the reign of God – the rule of God over the whole world. So, when we pray for God’s kingdom, we are praying for the complete and total restoration of all humanity and creation to God’s rule and authority.[3] We pray for the whole world to say, ‘yes’ to God. Of course, when we pray that, the prayer must begin in our own heart. Do you want God’s kingdom to be a reality in your heart? Do you say, ‘yes’ to God’s rule and reign when it comes to your life? Jesus prays for God’s kingdom to come, but it must come to us first before it can go out to the world.

Sometimes, we understand God’s kingdom best by clarifying what it is not. There will be no warfare in God’s kingdom – no tears, no pain, no killing. There will be no hatred in God’s kingdom – no prejudice, no racism, no denominationalism, nationalism or pride. There will be no selfishness in God’s kingdom – no greed, no unforgiveness, no sin, or evil. So, if we are students of Jesus, and if we want to follow Jesus’ prayer manner in praying for God’s kingdom to come, then we cannot pray for warfare or the destruction of peoples. We cannot pray for damnation or condemnation. Rather, we pray for God’s kingdom rule to become a reality in God’s world. We pray for the reality of the kingdom – love, unity, peace, unhindered fellowship, justice, the end of violence and suffering, pain and oppression. And when we pray for the reality of the kingdom, we must begin to live the reality of the kingdom as we live and interact in this world – meaning, we take upon ourselves, as we honor the family name, the values and the culture of that family – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, gentleness, self-control.

Now, we do not yet see the complete reality of the kingdom rule and reign of God in this world. When Christ comes again, the rule and reign of God will come in all of its fullness. So, just as Jesus prayed for God’s ultimate kingdom rule, we too pray for that ultimate rule and for the hastening of Christ’s return when, ‘every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father’ and when God shall ‘wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain.’[4] When we pray to God, ‘thy kingdom come’ we are praying for the return of Christ and for the world to be both engulfed by and submitted to God’s rule and reign forever.

Let your kingdom come; let your will be done just as it is in heaven and also on the earth. Now, I hinted that when we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we are praying for God’s heavenly reality to be made a reality on earth. Jesus is simply restating his request for God’s kingdom to come as he prays, ‘let your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.’ More importantly, Jesus continues to focus on God’s honor, God’s kingdom rule and God’s will, rather than on his own agenda or desire. And we hear Jesus utter this prayer again in the Garden of Gethsemane as he faces his own horrendous death; “Lord, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”[5]

How is Jesus able to pray this prayer – that God’s will be done – no matter the cost and over and above his own desires, his own will being made a reality? Because he’s already prayed, “hallowed be thy name and let your kingdom come.” He’s already prayed, ‘our Father, who art in the heavens.” More important, Jesus is living in the reality of this prayer. His chief concern and his primary example for us as we learn his prayer manner, is for God to be glorified. He entrusts his life to his father who will not, as he later teaches regarding prayer in Matthew 7 “give a stone when he asks for a loaf, or a snake when he asks for a fish.”[6] No, Jesus knows that his heavenly Father gives what is good to those who ask and Jesus knows that God’s kingdom and will are good and pure and right and just. The difficulty comes in that our sense of good and right and just are not always God’s sense of good and right and just. God’s good will meant Jesus would go to the cross for our salvation. Sometimes, God’s good will allows for suffering and hardship and pain. Like the hardship and suffering my friends Terry and Judy are facing. Let me tell you a little of their story to help you with praying this prayer: “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Six months ago, Judy was diagnosed with brochoaveolar carcinoma – a form of lung cancer not associated with smoking. Judy is in her early 50’s and every form of treatment has only made her sicker and weaker and has not stopped the ravenous advance of the cancer through her lungs. As I was putting the finishing touches on this sermon last night, I received an email update from Terry about Judy that I’d like to share with you all. What he said about her and her outlook on her illness illustrates beautifully this prayer for God’s will to be done on earth, as it is in heaven. He wrote:

Today is the six-month anniversary of Judy’s lung cancer diagnosis….It is a day to celebrate only in the sense that she is still very much with us, her body weaker with each passing day, but with her spirit soaring ever higher. She is so positive about things (there is a huge difference between being a polyanna and looking at things from a positive perspective). She recognizes that her treatments have not produced fruit, but God can turn things around overnight. That is the real point in any event.

Our family, friends and the Church continue to be our incredibly wonderful support group. While God has not seen to our wants He has abundantly seen to our needs through His many instruments. We are so grateful. Judy’s and my time together during these past six months has not only been plentiful, it has been of such quality that it is but one more blessing. Between our heightened prayer time and Bible study we look forward to Thursdays as not merely doctor visits, but lunch outings! The three of us (including RAWBi, our adopted and very well-dressed portable oxygen tank) have thus been able to witness in public on many occasions.

If I were to ask her what thought she would like to leave each of you today she would almost certainly say something like "We have been blessed so abundantly through God’s mercies and ask that you, too, continue to be blessed." We continually acknowledge God is in control and pray for His will be done.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Terry and Judy are living this prayer and they poignantly demonstrate lives surrendered to God’s will for the sake of God’s glory.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

With this prayer, Jesus challenges all of our proclivities towards praying, “Hallowed be my name. My kingdom come, my will be done.” Instead, he challenges us to say, ‘yes, Lord, yes to your will and to your way – to making your kingdom a reality in my life and in this world no matter what the cost. Jesus is teaching us to ask God to expand his reign in our hearts and in our lives as we live in this world, so that the world may glorify God’s name and be enfolded by God’s kingdom both now on this earth and in all its fullness when Christ comes again. Lord, let it be so! Amen. [7]

[1] The idea of belonging comes from Brian J. Dodd, Praying Jesus’ Way: a Guide for Veterans and Beginners.

[2] See Exodus 3:13-15. Yahweh means, “I am that I am, or I will be what I will be.” Because the name was never spoken, scholars are unsure even of the pronunciation of Yahweh. See Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p. 258 for this discussion.

[3] Brian J. Dodd, Praying Jesus’ Way, p. 67.

[7] Sources used in this sermon, The Lord’s Prayer: A Guide for the Perplexed. Gordon Hugenberger. Park Street Church: Boston, MA, 1999; Praying Jesus Way: A Guide for Beginners and Veterans. Brian J. Dodd. InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, IL, 1997; The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our Hidden Life in God. Dallas Willard. Harper San Francisco: San Francisco, CA, 1998.