Alex Huggett: Let's pray as we come to God's Word again this morning.
Alex Huggett: Father, we thank you for your Word.
Alex Huggett: We thank you that you have inspired it.
Alex Huggett: You speak through it still to us today.
Alex Huggett: Please make us attentive to it, Not just a word written in your book, but the words you're speaking to us through your Spirit In Jesus' name.
Alex Huggett: Amen.
Alex Huggett: Through your spirit in Jesus' name, Amen.
Alex Huggett: So in our vision statement we say we exist to see the kingdom of God established on earth as in heaven Kingdom.
Alex Huggett: It's a funny concept in a modern democracy, isn't it?
Alex Huggett: It's quite outdated.
Alex Huggett: Well, it seems to our ears, but of course, in many parts of the world it is still very much a part of the fabric of society.
Alex Huggett: When I was in Jordan many years ago, we had to be very careful what we said about the king, particularly if you were in public or in a taxi or something like that, or you could find yourself arrested, and it's the same in Thailand today.
Alex Huggett: You may have heard headlines and news reports about people who have spoken things that are considered not respectful or not right to say about the king, and you can still be arrested for that in some countries, which is quite at odds to Australia or America or places like ours, where you can say what you want.
Alex Huggett: It's almost your democratic duty to criticise the government.
Alex Huggett: The kingdom of God was a core theme of Jesus' message and it headlined the model prayer he gave us that we call the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6: 9 to 10.
Alex Huggett: Those verses say, "Our Father in heaven, your name be honoured as holy.
Alex Huggett: Your kingdom come.
Alex Huggett: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Alex Huggett: So what are we actually praying for when we pray your kingdom come, and what do we mean when we say we exist to see God's kingdom come on earth as in heaven?
Alex Huggett: You don't actually have to think too deeply about a statement like that to realize it's actually quite a bold statement.
Alex Huggett: We want to see God's kingdom come on earth in the same way that it exists in heaven.
Alex Huggett: So what in heaven's name does that even look like?
Alex Huggett: And what is God's kingdom anyway?
Alex Huggett: So let's start there.
Alex Huggett: Well, obviously, simply put, a kingdom is any realm that is ruled by a king or a queen.
Alex Huggett: So Psalm 47, verse 2, says the Lord, the Most High, is awe-inspiring, a great king over all the earth.
Alex Huggett: So God is king of the earth, he rules the earth.
Alex Huggett: In Genesis 1 and 2, God gave humanity dominion over the earth, and so we might actually think of God as kind of an emperor, a king of kings and humans, in God's original intention, as vassal kings ruling a particular part of the emperor's domain, because the emperor has more domains than just the earth.
Alex Huggett: When you read the creation account, there's also the heavens, the skies and the lights and the beings up there in that ancient conception.
Alex Huggett: Well, that was the plan until it all went pear-shaped and Adam and Eve disobeyed God.
Alex Huggett: The good news is God didn't give up on humanity.
Alex Huggett: He chose the nation of Israel with the intention that he would rule as king and Israel would demonstrate what God's kingdom looks like as a just and prosperous society.
Alex Huggett: So in 1 Samuel 12, verse 12, the prophet Samuel said to the people God is our king.
Alex Huggett: Well, that was until it went pear-shaped and Israel ended up asking for a human king.
Alex Huggett: God didn't give up on Israel and he actually gave it a red-hot go, with King David and his line acting as kings in his place until it went pear-shaped and the whole nation wound up in exile.
Alex Huggett: But God didn't give up on humanity.
Alex Huggett: Isn't it good that we serve a God who doesn't give up on us, Didn't give up on humanity or Israel or even the line of David.
Alex Huggett: He promised a king, a Messiah, who would come from David's line and restore his kingdom.
Alex Huggett: And it's in that context that Jesus comes preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.
Alex Huggett: And so it's not surprising that the people of Jesus' day were expecting a political leader who would restore the nation of Israel.
Alex Huggett: But of course that's not what Jesus did.
Alex Huggett: What did Jesus do?
Alex Huggett: Well, he came healing the sick, calling sinners to repentance and preaching the upside down message, not of conquering your enemies but of loving your enemies.
Alex Huggett: And he forged his followers into a new community, a new kingdom, if you like, until it went pear-shaped and Jesus was crucified.
Alex Huggett: Only, it wasn't pear-shaped.
Alex Huggett: That was the plan all along.
Alex Huggett: You know, the Gospels present the cross not as Jesus' execution but as coronation, his enthronement, where he became king.
Alex Huggett: So the kingdom of God is not a political reality but a spiritual one.
Alex Huggett: God wasn't just going to rule from Jerusalem, but in every human heart that trusts in Jesus.
Alex Huggett: And so in Luke 17, verses 20 to 21, Jesus said the kingdom of God is not coming with something observable.
Alex Huggett: No one will say see, here or there, for you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
Alex Huggett: Now.
Alex Huggett: Jesus was talking to the Pharisees who would ask when all this was going to happen.
Alex Huggett: And the kingdom of God was in their midst, because the king was in their midst.
Alex Huggett: They were talking to him, they were probably to him, they were probably surrounding him, and it was Jesus' presence and activity that made the kingdom manifested among them.
Alex Huggett: And so, along a similar vein, the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 14, verse 17,.
Alex Huggett: For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Alex Huggett: And when we pray for the kingdom of God to come, we're praying for the life, the ministry and the values of Jesus to be manifested among us here and around us in the world.
Alex Huggett: We're praying for the world to be made right under his rule, because it can't be made right in any other way.
Alex Huggett: The world was designed not to be a democracy but to be a kingdom, but under a perfectly wise and just king.
Alex Huggett: And so when we pray on earth as in heaven, we are in effect praying for heaven to break into our reality.
Alex Huggett: Have a think about that.
Alex Huggett: We're praying for heaven to come to earth.
Alex Huggett: And so when God's kingdom comes.
Alex Huggett: What does it look like?
Alex Huggett: Well, when God's kingdom comes, we see justice flourish.
Alex Huggett: When God's kingdom come, we see hearts restored.
Alex Huggett: When God's kingdom comes, we see relationships reconcile.
Alex Huggett: When God's kingdom comes with power, we see signs and wonders and miracles, Because that's what Jesus demonstrated, all of those things to us.
Alex Huggett: So don't we want to see God's kingdom come?
Alex Huggett: There's another side to God's kingdom, because, as much as it is or can be here now, a part of the reality is that clearly, there are large parts of the world that are not subject to the kingdom.
Alex Huggett: And you know, even when the kingdom comes and we see it clearly manifested in the world and among God's people, in communities, it's always imperfect because the world is imperfect.
Alex Huggett: And so there's an element of the kingdom that is still to be fully manifested.
Alex Huggett: And so when Jesus' disciples thought the kingdom of God was going to be established and appear straight away, he told them a parable to explain that no, actually it's still a long way off.
Alex Huggett: There's still time before it comes, which is interesting.
Alex Huggett: On the one hand, he's saying it's among you.
Alex Huggett: On the other hand, he's saying no, you've got to wait a little longer.
Alex Huggett: In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50, Paul said flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Alex Huggett: So clearly there has to be something beyond the present reality, Because last I checked, I feel pretty flesh and blood.
Alex Huggett: My aches and joints remind me.
Alex Huggett: And so the kingdom of God is among us, and yet it's not yet here.
Alex Huggett: And we call this tension the now but not yet of the kingdom of God.
Alex Huggett: It is breaking in, it has begun, but it's yet to come in fullness.
Alex Huggett: And so when we pray for God's kingdom to come, we're praying both for the rule and reign of God to be established now among us, in Bentley in Perth in 2024, and for the final day which the Bible talks about, a day of judgment but also a day of renewal, when the kingdom of God is fully established and God does away with evil and establishes his righteousness.
Alex Huggett: So what does this mean for us?
Alex Huggett: If, as a church, we exist to see God's kingdom come on earth as in heaven?
Alex Huggett: What does that look like?
Alex Huggett: Well, our vision statement contains a bit more, and we're going to look at that over the coming weeks, but for now let me just say what it doesn't look like.
Alex Huggett: First, you know there's a strong movement in America and there's elements of it in Australia called Christian nationalism, which teaches that we're a Christian nation in inverted commas and should be ruled by Christian laws.
Alex Huggett: And the way that they often try to do this is by overtly political or taking over political and civil institutions and imposing Christian values.
Alex Huggett: This is not what we see Jesus doing.
Alex Huggett: In fact, it's the opposite to what Jesus did.
Alex Huggett: Remember where was Jesus made king?
Alex Huggett: On a cross.
Alex Huggett: Now the gospel is political.
Alex Huggett: We live in a democracy.
Alex Huggett: As Christians, we have a right to voice our values and opinions in the public sphere, as much as our critics might hate that.
Alex Huggett: And the gospel is politically subversive and it speaks truth to power, but it does not do so with the tools of politics.
Alex Huggett: The kingdom of God does influence society, but it doesn't do so by imposing power or its own rule on a nation.
Alex Huggett: The kingdom is established through service, sacrifice and gospel proclamation.
Alex Huggett: So if we want to see a nation become Christian and see God's kingdom established at that level, then the way we need to do it is not by overtaking political parties or institutions or you know.
Alex Huggett: And again, Christians should have a part to play in those things.
Alex Huggett: I'm not saying we have to be completely apolitical, but that's not going to work that way.
Alex Huggett: What's really going to work is by seeing people come to faith, by seeing hearts and communities transformed.
Alex Huggett: See, when Christians and the church try to impose their will, it usually goes terribly, terribly wrong.
Alex Huggett: But when we come in human weakness, with the power of God's love, then the church becomes an unstoppable force.
Alex Huggett: And so if we want to see God's kingdom come and his will be done on earth as in heaven, well, let's go back to where we started the prayer of Jesus.
Alex Huggett: Jesus says pray for it.
Alex Huggett: So it begins with prayer.
Alex Huggett: We need to be a praying people.
Alex Huggett: We need to plead for the king to come and for him to establish his rule on earth.
Alex Huggett: Well, where does that rule come to exactly?
Alex Huggett: Well, we do pray for rulers and we pray for nations.
Alex Huggett: We're taught to do that in the Bible.
Alex Huggett: But we also pray for our homes and families and friends and communities and workplaces.
Alex Huggett: We ask Jesus to come and be present in those places and situations so that his resurrection power can bring new life to them.
Alex Huggett: And so where do you want to see new life in your world?
Alex Huggett: Where do you want to see the kingdom of God established, the values of the kingdom guiding relationships and practices, the name of Jesus lifted up?
Alex Huggett: Where do you want to see the kingdom of God established, the justice, peace and joy that only Jesus can bring?
Alex Huggett: Where do we want to see the Holy Spirit Doing miracles, Miracles of forgiveness and resurrection and of spiritual and physical healing?
Alex Huggett: Pray into those places Now.
Alex Huggett: Prayer can be hard.
Alex Huggett: It's not meant to be, but we're weak people.
Alex Huggett: There are three things that I do that I find really help my prayer life.
Alex Huggett: The first is pretty new to me.
Alex Huggett: Actually.
Alex Huggett: I don't know about you, but I find that when I come to God in prayer, I often come with the same requests, because, you know, my family doesn't change a whole lot.
Alex Huggett: I want to pray for them, I want to pray for my church, I want to pray for my community, and so I find myself praying the same requests, the same kind of prayer, every day, and even then I kind of struggle.
Alex Huggett: So what I did was I actually wrote out a prayer.
Alex Huggett: It's a prayer that I pray most days that expresses my heart to God.
Alex Huggett: I tried to make it a little bit creative in my own language and so in it I just listen, and it's constantly evolving.
Alex Huggett: But I pray for my faith, pray for my spiritual life, I pray for my wife and my family.
Alex Huggett: Pray for my friends.
Alex Huggett: I pray for you.
Alex Huggett: I pray for my wife and my family.
Alex Huggett: I pray for my friends.
Alex Huggett: I pray for you.
Alex Huggett: I pray for spiritual protection.
Alex Huggett: I pray for forgiveness for my sins.
Alex Huggett: It's something I have written down and I pull it out and read it and reflect on it and pray it to God.
Alex Huggett: And although it's written down, it's not wrote, because it expresses my heart in my own words to God.
Alex Huggett: And can I encourage you, if you struggle with prayer, why don't you try something like that?
Alex Huggett: It doesn't have to be long and eloquent, it's just between you and God.
Alex Huggett: A number of us here also use the Lectio 365 app, which you can find.
Alex Huggett: Scan the QR code, go to prayer resources.
Alex Huggett: There's a link under that tab which can really help just connect with God.
Alex Huggett: Now look the other thing I do.
Alex Huggett: That may be a little bit more controversial and I don't want it to be this morning, but for many years I've prayed in tongues.
Alex Huggett: I'm on the road a lot and so I often listen to podcasts and stuff, but the first journey of the day I try to make just in prayer.
Alex Huggett: And for me, I pray in what some people call a prayer language.
Alex Huggett: Sometimes, out of that, I feel prompted to pray for specific things, but during that time it's often just me waiting on God and staying conscious of him, and always I feel better when I spend that time.
Alex Huggett: Now, not everyone has a gift of tongues.
Alex Huggett: Okay, it doesn't actually make you more spiritual if you have the gift.
Alex Huggett: You're not less spiritual if you don't.
Alex Huggett: It's just very helpful.
Alex Huggett: And maybe it's because I'm less spiritual that I need it.
Alex Huggett: I don't know.
Alex Huggett: But if you do have that gift and I know some people here do can I encourage you to use it?
Alex Huggett: If you don't have it but desire it, ask God, who loves to give good gifts to his children, and I'd love to pray for you for that gift as well, if you desire it.
Alex Huggett: But look a lot of what I do when I'm doing that.
Alex Huggett: As I say, I'm waiting on God.
Alex Huggett: I'm trying to be attentive and reflective.
Alex Huggett: You don't need to have a prayer language or any language to do that.
Alex Huggett: Just be listening to God and prompting a language or any language to do that.
Alex Huggett: Just be listening to God and prompting.
Alex Huggett: Another thing that's also important for us is to come together to pray.
Alex Huggett: There's just something about God's people gathering his community, the subjects of his kingdom coming together.
Alex Huggett: What happens in the political realm?
Alex Huggett: If people want to start a movement right, they gather a crowd and you see in history, sometimes for good and sometimes for ill.
Alex Huggett: I mean, on the negative side we saw the huge Nazi rallies back in the 30s.
Alex Huggett: But then on the positive side you saw the civil rights movement in America that changed a nation as people came together.
Alex Huggett: And when we come together in prayer there's a power in that, Something happens.
Alex Huggett: Now some of the ladies gathered to pray before church is 15 minutes before in the conference room and I know they'd love you to join them there.
Alex Huggett: We'll be holding a presence night for prayer and worship later in this term.
Alex Huggett: We'd love you to join us for that.
Alex Huggett: We'll advertise that closer to the time In your small groups.
Alex Huggett: Whenever you get an opportunity, let's gather to pray.
Alex Huggett: But whatever you do, pray for the kingdom to come.
Alex Huggett: The other thing we need to do to see God's kingdom come on earth as in heaven, is to live it.
Alex Huggett: You know the things Jesus talked about when teaching on the kingdom, if you go on further in the Gospels were the things tied to the walk of discipleship, and we talk a lot about discipleship here, just the way we live as Christians.
Alex Huggett: Here's the thing.
Alex Huggett: Think about this If you're a subject of the kingdom and you have the presence of the king living within you, if you're a Christian, wherever you go, you take the kingdom of God with you.
Alex Huggett: You become the presence of the kingdom of God in that place.
Alex Huggett: And when we follow the words, ways and works of Jesus, we're manifesting the kingdom of God on earth through our lives.
Alex Huggett: When we share the gospel and seek to make disciples and win people to Christ, we're subjecting if that's the right word a small part of the world to the rule of God.
Alex Huggett: And as we go through our vision and our value statement and live that out and far more than that that's just a condensed version of what we're about.
Alex Huggett: When we do that, we're manifesting the kingdom of God on earth, and so the world needs God's kingdom to come so it can be healed.
Alex Huggett: And God as king ruling through humanity has always been God's agenda, and now that agenda centres on Jesus, where God and humanity meet in one person Not a political agenda, and it's not done through human force, but it comes through a life, through prayer and disciples faithfully following the king, and we pray that it will be fully established one day, and so may God's kingdom come among us.
Alex Huggett: May every heart bow before Jesus and may his transforming power change our world, Amen.
Alex Huggett: So I want to invite you to join me, as a first step, just in praying for the kingdom to come and then working for the kingdom to come through the way we live and the ministry that we conduct.
Alex Huggett: Let's pray, oh, Father.
Alex Huggett: We just pray, very simply, as Jesus taught us, for your kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth.
Alex Huggett: And, Father, I know I struggle and many of us here struggle with prayer.
Alex Huggett: We struggle, perhaps, just with knowing what to pray.
Alex Huggett: We struggle with our faith sometimes, Father.
Alex Huggett: Nevertheless, make us a praying people because there's power in prayer.
Alex Huggett: Make us a praying people because there's power in prayer.
Alex Huggett: And, Father, help us to live out the kingdom, to show people what it looks like, to bring it to bear in our world, so that we can see your kingdom come on earth as in heaven.
Alex Huggett: In Jesus' name amen.