“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.” (Mt 6:9-11)
Review We’ve been talking about the Lord’s prayer, one of the teachings written in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. In the last two sermons, we explored the meaning of the prayer “Your kingdom come.” The importance of understanding what the kingdom of God truly refers to can’t be emphasized enough because it affects every area of our lives as Christians. We started to explore the prayer with a common misunderstanding about the kingdom of God. Even though the Bible widely uses the term ‘the kingdom of God,’ it is also called ‘the kingdom of heaven’ in the gospel of Matthew, which has caused some people to consider the kingdom of God as only a spiritual place where our souls will go after death. But, we know that that view of the kingdom of God is wrong based on many passages in the Scriptures. Jesus, who first proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God, often used the verb ‘come’ rather than ‘go’ when He taught about the kingdom. He said, ℗ “The kingdom of God has come near.” (Mk 1:15) ℗ “…The kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Lk 17:20-21) So, one of the important characteristics of the kingdom of God we should know is that it’s not a place we will ‘go’ because it already started to come on earth with the first coming of Jesus Christ, is coming now through His disciples who are devoted to following His will, and will perfectly come true on earth when He comes back, which means that we can and should experience the presence of the kingdom of God here in this world. Then, what is the kingdom of God? We can find its definition in the Lord’s prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Here, we find the most important element of the kingdom of God, which is ‘God’s will.’ The kingdom of God can be simply defined as the realm where God’s will is done through His people. The Greek word for kingdom is℗ βασιλεία (basileia), which basically means royal power, kingship, or sovereign authority. The kingdom God wants to build on earth is the kingdom where His will is achieved through His people. I said that that’s what the entire Bible story is about. God created human beings in His image not only to have a relationship with them but for them to rule over all the creatures He had made. In other words, the garden of Eden was God’s kingdom where He reigned through His people. But, they ended up failing because they refused God as their King and tried to make themselves like God by disobeying the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, even though they failed, God didn’t give up on building His kingdom on earth. At this point, God’s mission goes in two directions. The first direction is to solve the problem of sin. And the second is to continue to rule over the world through His people that He set apart. That’s what we read about in the Old Testament. God ruled over the world through the people He had chosen, set apart, and consecrated: Israel. However, even though there were some great leaders in the Old Testament, the people of Israel ended up failing to achieve God’s plan. So God sent His one and only Son to the world, Jesus Christ. He proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of God. In fact, the majority of His teachings are related to it. Now, the kingdom of God started in earnest with the coming of Jesus. And it will perfectly come true on earth when He comes back in glory and reigns over the whole world with the authority given by God. On that day, all those who believe in Him will join in His reign. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Rv 11:15) And “[we] will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him…” (Rv 20:6) This is the ending of the Bible. That’s the day we should be looking forward to as Christians. We should know that our salvation isn’t irrelevant to God’s greater plan to build His kingdom on earth. God saved us not only because He loves us but also because He wants to build His kingdom on earth where His message is preached, His will is achieved, and His reign is proclaimed. We’re chosen and set apart for this specific purpose. So we should be very careful not to allow our faith and salvation to become individualized. That’s the reason we’re to be devoted to praying, “Your kingdom come, you will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Give Us Today Our Daily Bread Now, let’s move on to the next part of the Lord’s prayer—"Give us today our daily bread” (Mt 6:11). It’s easy for us to overlook the importance of this prayer for a few reasons. First of all, we may feel that this prayer is less important than the ones for God’s name to be hallowed, for his kingdom to come, and for his will to be done. Compared to these great prayers, we may think that the prayer for daily food isn’t that spiritual and thus doesn’t really matter. Second, we may not feel the need to ask for our daily bread simply because we don’t really feel a lack of food in our lives. We live in one of the richest countries in the world. We may lack a few things, but none of us starve simply because we don’t have enough food to eat. So, we may not feel the need to pray for our daily food. Nevertheless, I think it is still important for us to pray for our daily bread because it makes us understand and acknowledge our absolute need for God and thus rely on Him more. Manna Bread serves as a powerful symbol of God's provision for His people in the Old Testament. When Jesus taught to pray for daily bread, the audience would have immediately recalled how God fed their ancestors and helped them survive in the wilderness for forty years. It was impossible for a massive number of people to live in the wilderness where there’s nothing to drink or eat for such a long period of time. They would not have lasted even a week in the wilderness without God's help. Because life in the wilderness was so hard, the people of Israel began to complain about all their difficulties and uncomfortable circumstances. They even said that it would be better for them to go back to Egypt where they had been slaves, because they at least had food to eat. This is what the people of Israel said to Moses. “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Ex 16:3) They forgot how hard it was to live in Egypt, and only recalled the good parts. So, rather than being thankful to God for His great deliverance from slavery in Egypt, they complained about what they didn’t have anymore which they had had there. That’s what happens when we only see the difficult aspects of faith. If we only focus on what we should sacrifice and carry out as Christians, and not what we’ve received and will ultimately receive from God, we will easily become tired and exhausted, stumble in little trials, and lose gratitude toward God. Rather than giving thanks to God for the spiritual blessings we came to have in Christ, we will complain about the suffering and hardships we may face as Christians. The people of Israel lost this perspective. Rather than remembering what great deliverance God had given them and relying on Him, they complained about relatively small matters without trusting in Him. In response to these complaints, God promised Moses that He would give the people bread to eat every day. But He set a certain rule about this. God said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” (Ex 16:4). The rule was that the people of Israel had to gather only enough food for each day. If they gathered more than they needed for the day and spared the rest until the next day, it would be rotten. The Israelites called the daily bread manna. While wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, God sent them manna everyday so that the Israelites could survive there without planting and harvesting. It means that the people’s survival was solely dependent on God’s provision. Why did God make this complicated rule? He could’ve just given them enough food for a week or a month so that they didn’t have to go out to gather the bread every day. It might have been easier for both God and the people of Israel. But still, God wanted them to follow this rule strictly. It meant that giving them bread to eat for survival wasn’t God’s only purpose in sending manna every day. There was a specific reason for this. We can find the reason God set the specific rule about manna in Deuteronomy 8:3. Moses said to the people, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.” (Dt 8:3-4) Here, we find the reason, the special purpose in God having the people of Israel gather manna every day. By doing so, God wanted to teach them an important principle of life they had to know as His people. God wanted them to know that their lives were actually dependent on Him, not their own ability or power. If God had given them all the manna they could eat for forty years at once and they had just stored it in a barn and taken it whenever they needed it, they wouldn’t have relied on God every day for their food. They might have given thanks to God for the bread at first, but they would’ve quickly forgotten His grace and started to rely on what they’d stored in the barn more than on God for their survival. So, what God really wanted them to learn by letting them go out to gather manna every single day was the fact that what really maintained their lives was God’s provision, not anything else. They had to know from experience that they could only survive in the wilderness because of God’s grace, guidance, and faithfulness so that they could rely on every word of God more than bread. That’s what they learned when they gathered manna every day. They experienced God’s faithfulness and provision every single day by seeing God give them manna each day and gathering it. Thus, they came to acknowledge that what really allowed them to live was not the bread itself, but the One who faithfully guided them and provided them with everything they needed. And this principle applies to our faith lives as well. Even though we don’t go out to gather manna every day, we still need to know that what really enables us to live each day is not the food, money, or other things we have, but God. What God teaches us through this story is not that material things don’t matter. God knows what we need because He is the One who designed and created us. But, what God really wants us to realize is that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” We can see the importance of knowing this principle and applying it in our lives by seeing how Jesus Himself was tested by the devil in the wilderness. When Jesus stayed in the wilderness for forty days, He fasted and was very hungry. And the tempter came to Jesus and told Him to turn stones into bread. But Jesus told him, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4) That Jesus was tempted in this way means that we face the same kind of temptation while living on earth. Jesus was tested so that He could understand us and help us overcome temptations and trials from the world and the evil one. So, the story of manna and the principle behind it should serve as a model for all God’s people’s lives. Because we’re not short of many things, we are very vulnerable to the temptation to think that what sustains our lives is our own power, possessions, and abilities. We often feel a sense of stability in what we’ve achieved and stored. It seems that many people, even Christians, go after money, love it, and even worship it because they think that’s what really enables them to do the things they want to do. In other words, money has replaced God. There’s nothing wrong with making and saving money itself, but we should always be careful not to rely on money more than God. What Scripture clearly teaches us is that the true reason we can maintain our lives is not because we have saved a lot, but because God sustains our lives every single day, gives us the power to live, and provides us with all the things we need for our lives. That’s why it’s important for us to continue to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Mt 6:11), because this prayer allows us to humble ourselves before God and reminds us of the truth that what really maintains our lives is God’s faithfulness and grace that He gives us every single day. So, this part of the Lord's prayer teaches us to come to God with humility, asking him to provide what we need and to sustain us day by day. And, this prayer is firmly based on the truth that God loves us, cares for us, and provides us with all we need with his faithfulness and grace. Spiritual Food But, this prayer isn’t only about physical food. This prayer has a spiritual aspect as well. Just as we need food for our physical survival, we also need spiritual food to be healthy and grow spiritually. The apostle Peter said, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Pt 2:2). Paul also encourages us to be “nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching” (1 Tm 4:6b) so that we can “be a good minister of Christ Jesus” (1 Tm 4:6a). Moreover, Jesus also introduced Himself as spiritual bread for the world. He said, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:48-51) Here, Jesus compares manna, the physical bread that the Israelites ate in the wilderness, with the spiritual, living bread coming down from heaven, which refers to Himself. Physical bread is important in our lives because it helps us live a healthy life here on earth. But spiritual food, the living bread, is way more important than the physical kind because it is related to eternal life. Jesus said that the purpose of Him coming into the world was to give us this spiritual bread so that we can eat it, grow from it, and live forever. We should know that we have not only physical needs, but also spiritual ones. And, our spiritual needs are designed to be met only in our relationship with the heavenly Father, since He alone is eternal. But, tragedy occurs when we try to fill our spiritual needs with something else, which never works. How can finite things fill the desire for eternity that God has set in our hearts? So, as Christians, we’re to be fed spiritually by God every day. Just as the people of Israel went out to gather their manna every day, we should continually go before God’s presence every single day to receive His grace given through His word. Only the presence of God and His word can nourish our spirits and give us strength to live each day without stumbling. That’s the spiritual food we should seek every day. And, only those who desperately feel the hunger and thirst in their souls will try to find it every day. So, again, it’s important for us to continue to be devoted to praying for our daily bread because this prayer allows us to know our absolute need for God’s presence and His word and makes us seek Him more desperately. Going to church and listening to a sermon once a week can never be enough for our spiritual growth. If we only listen to God’s word one day a week and leave ourselves in the world for six days, we won’t be able to keep our faith and we will drift away from Jesus without even noticing it. God’s people need to be nourished by His word every single day. That’s how we work on our salvation and faith with trembling and fear. Remember that after one day, the manna God gave the Israelites started to decay, which means that the grace we received yesterday can’t feed us spiritually today. We always need grace every day. God wants to give us his spiritual food every single day. He wants us to eat it and grow spiritually. So, we should pray this prayer every day, asking God to fill us with His living bread and give us His voice every day in our lives. That’s how we can maintain a close relationship with our heavenly Father. I hope that all of us here realize the deep meaning of the prayer “give us today our daily bread” so that we can always be humble before God and rely on Him more than anything. And I pray that we can see our spiritual needs that only God can satisfy so that we can be more desperate in seeking His word, and be nourished and strengthened by it every single day. Let’s pray. [Closing prayer] Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this precious time to learn what we should pray for through the Lord’s prayer. As weak human beings, we easily forget that You alone are the true Provider of our lives. We tend to think that what we have is from our own ability without realizing that even our ability is from You. In fact, there’s nothing we have that doesn’t come from You. Even our breath comes from Your grace that You give us each day. So Lord, please open our hearts and help us see You working in our lives so that we can humbly proclaim that all we have is from You and that we can’t live a day without You. Oh Lord, we ask that You would fill us with spiritual food every day. Please see the deep desperation of our spirits and fill them with Your living bread. Give us the desire to love Your word and let us listen to Your voice through it so that we can seek You and be nourished by Your word of truth every day. We thank you for Your faithfulness and all Your provisions for us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. Why do you think it is important for Christians to pray for daily bread? Why do you think it is essential for Christians to go before God’s presence on a daily basis? 2. What does daily bread represent to you personally? What are some practical things you can do to have it every day? “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:9-10)
Review We’ve been talking about the Lord’s prayer. In the first sermon, we talked about to whom we lift up this prayer. It’s always important to remind ourselves of to whom we’re praying. We’re praying to our Father who is in heaven, who sacrificed His most precious one to adopt us as His children, who never fails to love and guide us, who knows all our situations and needs even better than we do, and with whom nothing is impossible. Remembering to whom we’re praying decides the kind of prayer we pray. If we’re really praying to this God who revealed who He is in the Bible, we won’t pray for things that others who don’t know Him pray for. We won’t ask what they ask. We won’t seek what they seek. So, after reminding us of to whom we’re praying, our Father in heaven, Jesus began to teach what we should pray for as His people and His children. First of all, Jesus taught that we should pray, “Hallowed be your name.” I said this prayer is not a proclamation but rather a petition. Through this prayer, we not only remember and proclaim how holy our heavenly Father is, but also ask Him to see to it that His name be honored, glorified, and treated holy just as He is holy. God is holy because of who He is. All of His characteristics such as eternity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and more distinguish Him from all other created beings. And the holy God wants His people to be holy just as He is holy, which means that He wants us to be distinguished from others who don’t know Him. So God gave His word to His people. When we follow His word, not the ways of the world, we’ll become holy and reflect God’s holiness. For that specific purpose, God has set us apart and made us holy through Jesus’ blood and the Holy Spirit. But God’s purpose in making us holy isn’t only for us but for all people on earth. God wants us to be holy so that those who don’t know Him can see how holy He is through His people and come to Him. This purpose is well described in Ezk 36:23. God said, “The nations will know that I am the Lord… when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.” (Ezk 36:23) What God wants us to do is prove His holiness through our lives so that all people on earth can know who He truly is. And God will never stop working for His holy name. He will never stop cleansing us through Jesus’ blood and sanctifying us through the work of the Holy Spirit. So, by praying, “Hallowed be Your name,” we constantly check if we’re living out this holy calling from God. And by praying this, we ask God to sanctify us and other Christians around the world through His word, Jesus’s redemption, and the power of the Holy Spirit so that God’s name would be treated holy among all nations as He deserves. Your Kingdom Come All right. That’s what we talked about last Sunday. Today I want us to move on to the next part of the prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10) I think this part is so important that I believe all Christians must be devoted to praying it. While living on earth, we all hope for or dream about something. We all have different kinds of goals in our lives and go after them. And what we hope for shows what kind of values we have. Some people seek wealth, fame, or power. Others chase after happiness, self-actualization, or recognition. These motivations make us act and move forward. And, there are things that we’re seeking as Christians. There are things that we’re hoping for and dreaming about as Christians. It can be said that the ultimate goal of every Christian life is to enter the kingdom of God. This will happen when Jesus comes back and brings God’s kingdom with Him. That’s what essentially makes Christians different and distinguished from non-believers. Christians are those who put their hope not in the world they’re living in now, but the eternal world to come, the kingdom of God. Even though they live in this world temporarily, they know that their true citizenship belongs to the kingdom of God, so they just live like travelers on earth. As Hebrews 11 says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth… they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13, 16) Here, “all these people” refers to the great people of faith listed in Hebrews 11. One of the common characteristics found in their lives is that they lived on earth as foreigners and strangers as if they had their own country to which they would return. While they were in the world, they lived by faith, longing for a better country that God prepares and promises to give them, which is in heaven. That was the reason they were able to stand strong and keep their faith despite all kinds of difficulties and hardships right in front of them. Because they knew that the life they had on earth was not the end and that a much better life was waiting for them in the kingdom of God, they could endure suffering and even rejoice in it. I think that’s the kingdom perspective we all need to have if we really want to follow Christ in this world. Unless we have this, unless we’re able to see what’s unseen and eternal, we’ll be easily swayed by temporary things in the world. So, to truly live out our faith and follow Jesus’ way in the world, we must have this kingdom perspective. So, it’s important for us to be devoted to praying, “Your Kingdom come.” This prayer helps us fix our eyes on what’s unseen and eternal, not what’s seen and temporary. It helps us value the things that we’re to value as Christians. And it helps us continue to be interested in what God’s interested in and live for it. Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33). I think this is one of the best ways to describe who Christians are. Christians are those who seek the Kingdom of God above everything else and are devoted to following the ways, principles, and rules of the kingdom, not their own interests or the ways of the world. Then, what does it mean for us to seek His kingdom? What does it mean for the kingdom of God to come? How can it happen and what must we as Christians do for it? These are what I want us to think about as we’re digging deeper into the prayer, “Your Kingdom come.” What Is the Kingdom of God? But before talking about what it means for the Kingdom to come, it may be beneficial to know what the kingdom of God refers to first. Let’s begin with what’s not the kingdom of God. It seems that there are some misunderstandings about the concept of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is also called the kingdom of heaven in the Bible. There’s no difference between the two terms. But, the term ‘kingdom of God’ is used much more frequently throughout the New Testament than the expression ‘the kingdom of heaven,’ which is only used in the gospel of Matthew. So, I think the term ‘the kingdom of God’ is more appropriate to use than the kingdom of heaven. That’s not only because ‘the kingdom of God’ is more widely used in the Bible, but also because I think the term conveys what the kingdom refers to more than ‘the kingdom of heaven.’ Many theologians guess that the reason Matthew used ‘the kingdom of heaven’ rather than ‘the kingdom of God’ was because the original readers of his gospel were Jews, and it was a common practice among the Jews to use the word ‘heaven’ instead of ‘God’ because they didn’t want to directly refer to God. It's like how they prefer to call God ‘Adonai,’ which means “master” or “Lord,” rather than YHWH, which is one of the names of God written in the Scriptures. Even though we pronounce it Yahweh, no one actually knows how to pronounce it. That’s because the Jews considered this name of God so holy, they would not pronounce it aloud. Because they were afraid of taking God’s name in vain, they would replace the word YHWH with Adonai when reading Scripture aloud. And theologians think that that may be the reason Matthew changed the term ‘the kingdom of God’ to ‘the kingdom of heaven.’ Thus, Matthew probably didn’t use the term to reveal where the kingdom is located. To Matthew, ‘heaven’ was simply an alternative word for God. The Jews at that time would’ve thought that way too. So, whenever you find the expression ‘kingdom of heaven’ in Matthew, you can always read it as ‘kingdom of God.’ You might say that the kingdom of God is a more accurate way of referring to it. I also personally prefer to use ‘the kingdom of God.’ There’s nothing wrong with using the term ‘the kingdom of heaven’. It’s written in the Bible. Nevertheless, the reason I’m explaining this is because using the word ‘heaven’ can cause misunderstandings about the kingdom of God. Even though the expression ‘kingdom of heaven’ only appears in the book of Matthew and the rest of the Bible uses the expression ‘kingdom of God,’ it seems that many Christians tend to use the term ‘the kingdom of heaven’ more frequently than ‘the kingdom of God’. Again, it’s not wrong to use ‘the kingdom of heaven’. But the problem is that their understanding of the word ‘heaven’ is likely different from the meaning Matthew intended. Matthew didn’t use the word to reveal what the kingdom is. But it seems that many Christians understand ‘heaven’ as the place where the kingdom of God is located. So they think of the kingdom of God only as a spiritual realm that Christians’ souls go to after death. That’s not what Jesus taught about the kingdom of God. If we carefully read what Jesus said about the kingdom of God in the four gospels, we’ll understand how it is different from what we might think it is. This is what Jesus first proclaimed as He started His ministry in earnest. “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15) Jesus didn’t say “believe the good news” to go to the kingdom of God. We should repent and believe the gospel because the kingdom has come with Jesus Christ. When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, the people around Him were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” The Pharisees definitely didn’t like it. So, out of jealousy, they said that Jesus could drive out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. And this is what Jesus said to them, “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?… But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mt 12:26, 28). Here, Jesus again used the verb ‘come’ rather than ‘go’ regarding the kingdom of God. In Luke 17, some Pharisees came to Jesus and asked when the kingdom of God would come. And Jesus answered, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Lk 17:20-21) These are some important verses that show what the kingdom of God is. The Bible doesn’t depict the kingdom of God only as a spiritual place somewhere in heaven which only our souls enter after death like some people think. The biblical kingdom of God started to be built here on earth in earnest with the coming of Jesus. It’s being expanded by those who believe in Him, repent, and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as truth, and it will finally and perfectly come true here on earth when Jesus comes back. We also see this in the Lord’s prayer. Jesus didn’t teach His disciples to pray to ‘go’ to heaven, but pray, “Your kingdom come” (Mt 6:10) So, the kingdom of God is not where we’re ‘going’, but what we’re waiting for, because it’s actually ‘coming’ to the world. Again, the kingdom of God started to come with the first coming of Jesus Christ. It has already started but isn’t complete yet. But it will perfectly come true on earth when He returns. On that day, we’ll see the kingdom coming in its glory with our own eyes. And, not only our souls but also our bodies, which will be resurrected like Jesus, will enter the kingdom of God. That’s the hope we have as Christians. That’s the day we’re waiting for. That’s what John foresaw in the book of Revelation. He wrote, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” (Rv 21:2) I think It’s very important how we think of the kingdom of God because the way we perceive the kingdom has a massive impact on our lives. If we think it is only a spiritual world in heaven, where only our souls will go after we die, we wouldn’t consider the things we’re doing here on earth as important. But, if we really believe that the kingdom of God came to the earth with Jesus, is coming and being expanded now, and will be complete someday, we’ll realize that everything we do here on earth is actually related to the Kingdom of God and we’ll be more devoted to being used as kingdom makers while living in this world by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, helping the poor, healing the sick, consoling the wounded, and more. I believe that’s what really makes the kingdom of God come through our lives. And I believe that’s what Jesus wants us to pray for as we pray, “Your kingdom come.” We’ll explore the meaning of the kingdom of God in more depth next Sunday, but the essence of it is God’s sovereignty. Wherever we are, if we obey God’s will and act under His sovereignty, the kingdom of God will come, which means that we can actually experience the presence of the kingdom of God in every place, whether at home, in our workplaces, in market places, with our friends, and more. On the other hand, even though we’re in church, if we’re not surrendered to God’s will and don’t acknowledge God’s sovereignty over our lives, we won’t experience the coming of God in our midst. Again, the kingdom of God is not a spiritual place we’ll go after death. It’s something that we should be devoted to making ‘come’ here on earth wherever we are. And it starts with our prayer. The more we’re devoted to praying the prayer Jesus taught us, ‘Your kingdom come,’ and the more we try to make it happen by surrendering our lives to God’s will, the more we’ll experience the presence of the kingdom of God in our lives. I hope that all of us here in this room know what it really means to pray “Your kingdom come” so that we can live blessed lives under God’s will for us. Let’s pray. [Closing prayer] Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Dear Lord, thank you for teaching us how to pray and what we should really pray for as Your people. We pray that Your kingdom would come on earth and fill every place. We want to see the whole world being filled with Your will. We want to see many people turning back to You, having knowledge of Your truth and being saved through Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, please help us know the power of this prayer and how important it is in Christian life so that we will never neglect it but be more devoted to praying for Your kingdom and Your will. We want to be Your kingdom makers. Please give us the desire to seek Your kingdom and Your will more and the willingness to follow it so that we can experience Your kingdom coming and Your will being achieved through our lives wherever we are. We thank You for giving us this great chance to participate in Your mission for the world to make Your kingdom come and expand it. Please open our eyes, minds, and hearts and let us see the true value of Your kingdom so that we can be more devoted to seeking it. We pray that Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven through our lives. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. What are some misunderstandings about the kingdom of God? Where do you think they come from? Why do you think it is important for Christians to know what the kingdom of God really is? 2. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is in your midst” (Lk 17:21). What do you think this means? Have you experienced the presence of the kingdom of God in your life? 3. All Christians are called to make the kingdom of God come on earth wherever they are. What are some practical things you can do to make this happen? “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.)” (Mt 6:9-13)
Introduction Last year, we talked about some important teachings from what’s called the Sermon on the Mount, which refers to a collection of lessons Jesus taught on a mountainside after He began His ministry in earnest in Galilee. Starting today, I want us to talk about what I think is the most important teaching in the Sermon on the Mount—the Lord’s prayer. We all know how important it is for us to be devoted to praying as Christians. Prayer plays a vital role in Christian life because it’s basically a conversation with God through which we can develop a meaningful personal relationship with Him, which is the most important factor in a Christian life as Mr. Min shared with us during our retreat. Without a deep, personal relationship with God, we can’t live a life that’s worthy of the calling we received from Him because that’s the source of everything we do as Christians. And we can’t maintain or build up our relationship with Him without praying. We can’t get to know someone without listening or speaking to them. Likewise, we can’t really develop our personal relationship with God without going before His presence in prayer. When we pray, we get to know God’s will toward us. When we go before Him and focus on Him, God brings our life into alignment with His will and guidance. Through prayer, we hear His voice speaking into each of our hearts and build a closer relationship with Him. We see the importance of prayer in Jesus’ life. In the Bible, we can find many instances where Jesus prays to God. In fact, He didn’t start doing anything without prayer. He began with prayer early in the morning every day. Even when He was surrounded by crowds and busy teaching them, He always set aside time to find a place to be alone so that He could pray to God and listen to Him. You might say that the foundation of Jesus’ ministry was His prayer life. As He said, “This kind can come out only by prayer” (Mk 9:29) So, no Christian can deny the importance of prayer. But, what I think is more important than just praying is knowing what we really need to pray for. Of course, we can pray for anything to God as His children. But that doesn’t mean that all the things we pray for are in accordance with His will. In some cases, it even seems that what Christians ask God for goes against His will. So, we’re to learn how to pray and what to pray for. And an important principle to keep in mind is that a Christian prayer isn’t really about what we need or what we want but about what God’s will is and how He wants us to live. What I’ve experienced is that the more I grow spiritually as a Christian, the more I come to seek God’s will, not mine. I don’t really feel like I need to ask God to help with my problems or my needs, because I know that God already knows them and takes care of them even before I ask Him. Jesus also said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?… So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Mt 6:25, 31-32). Jesus said that we don’t have to pray for earthly things such as food, clothes, shelter, and so on. That’s not because they are not important—they are. But, such things shouldn’t be our priorities in prayer, because again, God already knows our situations and needs and He always cares for us just as parents care for their children. So, we shouldn’t prioritize our interests when we go before God in our prayers. Rather, we need to hear what God is telling us first, asking Him to give us the strength to follow His will. I believe that’s how we truly go before God’s presence in prayer which pleases Him. In this sense, I think the Lord’s prayer gives us valuable lessons about what we should really pray for along with the importance of prayer in Christian life. The Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer First, we learn how important it is for us to continue to maintain our relationship with God through prayer. We can learn this from the structure of the Sermon of the Mount. The Lord’s prayer is included in the Sermon on the Mount, which consists of many critical teachings we should know in order to live as God’s people in the world. When Matthew wrote about Jesus’ teachings on the Mount in his gospel, he deliberately arranged them in a specific order. There are different ways we can emphasize what we think is important in our writing. Most times, we emphasize important points by using certain words or phrases. But, we can also stress the important points by intentionally putting them in a certain order, which I think is more efficient. For example, when we write a report, we usually put the main point at the beginning or end of the writing. So, it’s not hard to find the main point of a text. We can simply read the first or last paragraph. But, the Jews used a different writing strategy. They liked to use a special structure to emphasize the main theme of a piece of writing. The structure is called ‘Chiasm.’ In this type of structure, they put the most important content in the middle of their writing, not the beginning or end. The term chiasm is derived from the Greek letter chi(X). Here’s a simple example of the chiasm structure. A B X B` A` Here, each letter represents an idea. In this structure, the two ideas, A and B, are presented first and then repeated in reverse order B` and A`. And, you can see that the third idea ‘X’ is located at the center. By doing this, the writer emphasizes the importance of idea ‘X’. So, when you find this structure, you know that X is the most important idea in the writing. This might be unfamiliar to you but it’s beneficial to know about it because many passages in the Bible are written in chiastic structure. And, many scholars suggest that the structure of the Sermon on the Mount is chiastic. Here’s one of the possible structures of the Sermon on the Mount suggested by theologians. The Structure of the Sermon on the Mount A 5:1-2 Frame: Context B 5:3-16 Intro. – the beatitudes and persecution C 5:17-20 Introduction of the Main Section – Law and prophets D 5:21-48 Main Section – Surpassing the Law – the antitheses X 6:1-18 Climax: Christian Life D` 6:19-7:11 Main Section – possessions, judging, and asking C` 7:12 Conclusion of the Main Section – Law and prophets B` 7:13-27 Conclusion A` 7:28-8:1a Frame: Reaction – the audience’s response Even though they don’t perfectly match each other, we can see that the ideas and subjects are structured around the climactic passage ‘X’ located in the middle, which talks about how Christians should live. However, it’s also been suggested that the X passage itself is chiastic. Here’s the suggested structure of the paragraph. The Structure of Mt. 6:1-18 A 6:1-4 Righteousness before God – almsgiving B 6:5-8 Prayer words (not empty words) X 6:9-13 The Lord’s Prayer (the climax) B` 6:14-15 Prayer words (need for forgiveness) A` 6:16-18 Righteousness before God – fasting Here, we see the centrality of the Lord’s prayer. The Lord’s prayer is the center not only of this passage, but also the Sermon on the Mount itself. So, some theologians believe that Matthew emphasizes the importance of the Lord’s prayer by placing it at the center of Christian life through the chiastic structure. It’s like Matthew is saying that we can’t follow all the critical teachings from Jesus without praying, especially the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray. And it’s true. We know how hard it is for us to follow all Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. How can we not commit the sin of murder by not hating someone from our hearts? How can we forgive the one we hate and don’t want to forgive? How can we turn the other cheek to those who slap us? How can we love our enemies and even pray for them? And, what’s more, how can we be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? It seems impossible for us to follow all these teachings. And it’s true. We can’t obey them on our own. But we don’t have to be frustrated because God doesn’t really ask us to do the impossible. When God gives us His commands, He also gives us power and strength to carry them out. And, it’s likely that Matthew is implying that the key to following all those teachings lies in our prayer lives. And our prayers must be in line with God’s will which is revealed in the Lord’s prayer. As I said earlier, the most important aspect of Christian life is a relationship with God. And the key to building up and maintaining a good and close relationship with Him lies in our prayer life. Just as the secret of Jesus’ ministry was always to have a proper and close relationship with God through prayer, if we really want to follow Jesus’ way, the way of the cross, not the ways of the world, we should be devoted to praying to God first. I believe that’s where our spiritual battles really begin. We should keep in mind that no Christian who fails in their prayer life can follow God’s will. By contrast, the more we’re dedicated to praying in accordance with God’s will, the more we’ll be able to find what pleases the Lord, understand what His will is, and live it out. That’s what I want us to learn as we explore the greatest prayer Jesus Himself taught us to pray. We’ll talk about each important element in this prayer, which allows us to know what truly shapes Christian life and what we should ask for as Christians. So now, let’s dig deeper into the prayer. 1. Our Father in Heaven The Lord’s prayer is written in two gospels—the gospel of Luke and the gospel of Matthew. Even though Matthew doesn’t explain the context in which Jesus taught His disciples the Lord’s prayer, Luke tells us the circumstances in which Jesus taught it. One day, one of Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Lk 11:1). In response to this, Jesus started to tell them how they should pray, which is the Lord’s prayer. Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Mt 6:9) The Lord’s prayer starts with what I think is one of the most wonderful and marvelous phrases, ‘our Father in heaven.’ A preacher once said that this phrase is the key of every prayer because it defines the very special relationship we have with God. Romans 8:15-17 says, “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” (Rm 8:15-17) Paul also said in the book of Galations, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Gal 4:4-7) These are indeed amazing passages that talk about the new relationship we’ve come to have with God through Jesus Christ. The Bible says that we’re not only His people or servants, but also His beloved children whom He adopted through Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul called Jesus ‘the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.’ But, why adoption? We may feel a little uncomfortable because of the negative connotations the word has in our culture. But, in ancient Rome, where the apostle Paul wrote his letters, it had somewhat a different meaning. The Greek word for ‘adoption to sonship’ is υἱοθεσία (uihothesia), which referred to the full legal status of an adopted heir in Roman culture. In ancient Rome, adoption had a powerful meaning. When a child was born, the biological parents had the option of disowning the child for a variety of reasons. The relationship, therefore, was not permanent. But this wasn’t the case if a child was adopted because in Rome, adopting a child meant that the child was freely desired and thus chosen by the parents, and the child would be a permanent part of the family. So if a child was adopted, the parents had no right to disown the child ever. Therefore, Roman parents had to be very careful in adopting a child because it meant that the child would become the heir to all of their possessions. That’s the meaning of us becoming children of God who call Him ‘Abba, Father’. That we’re adopted by our heavenly Father means that we were desired and chosen by Him. It means that the adoption will never be canceled. And it also means that we’ve come to have the right to inherit every possession of our heavenly Father. What’s much more wonderful, is the fact that all these blessings were ‘freely’ given. We are loved, desired, and chosen not because we are good enough to be treated like that. Our adoption to God has nothing to do with who we are or what we’ve done. It’s solely based on who God is and what He has done for us through Christ Jesus, His Son. As we read from Ephesians during the retreat, “[we] were dead in [our] transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1), “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:3-4). We should remember that God chose to give us His Son when we were least deserving of His love. Paul said in Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) This is what we should be always reminded of as Christians. We all know that God is our Father. But do we really understand what that means? How often do you think about what God had to sacrifice and what Jesus did to make it possible for us to have the right to be children of God who call Him ‘Abba, Father?’ I feel like the words ‘heavenly Father’ have become so familiar to us that they have become simply an idiomatic phrase. We like to call Him, “Abba, Father,’ but we often do so without knowing what it really means and what amazing and sacrificial love God has given us to let us become His children. That’s what I want us to be reminded of today. When we pray, it’s always important to remember to whom we pray. We’re not praying to any gods but the God who created the entire universe and holds it with His almighty power. We’re praying to the God who adopted us in His great love and grace no matter who we are and never fails to love us unconditionally. We’re praying to the God who has allowed us to call Him ‘Abba, Father’ by not sparing His one and only Son but having Him die on the cross. And we’re praying to our heavenly Father who knows all our situations and needs, cares for us, and guides us faithfully even when we don’t love or seek Him. And we’re His rightful heirs who are promised to inherit all His blessings. That’s who our God is, our heavenly Father, and that’s who we are, His beloved adopted children. That’s what we must remember every time when we go before God in prayer. The phrase ‘our heavenly Father’ reminds us of the truth. Today is the first Sunday of this year, which is a good season for renewal. And the first thing we should recover, restore, and renew is our relationship with God. We can do so by intentionally, actively, and intensely reminding ourselves of who God really is and who we are in Him. I hope and pray that we can rediscover the new identity we came to have in Christ so that our lives can be firmly built on God’s love in everything we do, especially in our relationship with Him, and that we can grow closer and closer to Him throughout this year. Let’s pray. [Closing prayer] Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us of who You are and who we’ve become in Your love. When we remember all the things You’ve done and sacrifices You’ve made to adopt us, we can’t help but give thanks to You for Your unconditional, unfailing love and Your mercy and grace. Now Lord, we want to know more about what it means to call You ‘heavenly Father’ and live by the truth. We invite You into every aspect of our lives. We open the door of our hearts to You. Please come, change our minds and hearts and let them be focused on Your love and truth so that we may know more about who You are, love You more, and so that our lives can be firmly built upon the foundation of Your love throughout this year. We want to be drawn closer to You, Lord. Please soften our hearts, speak to us, and guide us. We thank You and love You, Lord. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. When was the last time You went before God in sincere, wholehearted prayer? What do you think makes you more desperate for Him? What kind of prayer habit do you want to maintain or develop this year? 2. When did you experience God’s love most deeply? Do you remember the feeling you had when you first called God ‘Father’? What was it like? How do you feel when you call Him heavenly Father? |