Thy Kingdom Come | Rediscovering the Lord's Prayer | Episode 5

What was Jesus talking about when He taught His disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come", and was it anything on earth at all? In this study, Pastor Jim Thomas explores the true nature of God's Kingdom as the dynamic rule and reign of King Jesus. Moving past political definitions and geographic borders, we examine how the primary purpose of prayer is to align our hearts with God's purposes rather than demanding our own way.

Discover what it means to walk with Christ and learn how to make God’s invisible Kingdom wonderfully visible to the watching world around you.

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

So what on earth was Jesus talking about when he taught his disciples to pray, Thy kingdom come? And was it anything on earth at all? Well, before I make a stab at answering that, I want to remind you we're walking line by line through what is arguably the most famous prayer of all time, the Lord's Prayer. And before we pick that line apart, let's say and pray the Lord's Prayer together. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen and amen. Thy kingdom come. You know, Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven, also referred to as the kingdom of God throughout the four gospels. He talked about that a lot. But the kingdom Jesus was talking about doesn't just locate its center in one city like Washington, D.C. or London, or Beijing, or even Jerusalem. And it's not limited to one nation like France or Italy or Russia. It's not just about one economic class, one ethnic group, or one racial group at all. Jesus actually talked about a kingdom that crosses all man-made boundaries. It doesn't even have a zip code. That's because the kingdom of God that Jesus talked about, and that's talked about really throughout the Bible, isn't limited to one of those things. As a matter of fact, this kingdom of God transcends all human categories because it's the kingdom of the infinite, supernatural creator, ruler, and sustainer of all things. God. Yahweh, as he reveals himself in the Old Testament, and Jesus, the Son of God, as he reveals himself in the New Testament. And of course, the Holy Spirit who comes and takes up residence in our hearts and rules there as well. Thy kingdom come, Jesus says. Pray that. It's an outburst of desire to see God's royal rule and reign, honored, and includes the idea that God is a king, that he has sovereign authority and power. It's an idea that runs, like I say, all the way through the biblical text, all the way back to the ancient interactions of Israel's God who revealed himself as Yahweh or as Jehovah to his people. Back in 1 Chronicles, for instance, the great King David of Israel is recorded as praying these words. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. That's from 1 Chronicles 29, 11, and it sure sounds a lot like what some of some of those phrases we we hear the Lord Jesus teaching his disciples to pray in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 in the New Testament, doesn't it? Yeah. Well, how do these images strike you? Does that describe the disposition of your heart, your mind, your soul towards God? Do you think of God as your king and you as a loving, loyal subject in God's kingdom? One way to tell is to ask: do I believe that God belongs to me, or do I believe that I belong to God? Does God exist for you and for your purposes? Or do you exist for God, for his plans and for his purposes? These are two dramatically different ways to think about reality and life and yourself and about God. And it all gets down to this one question: who is or who should be the rightful king in our lives? Jesus wants us to pray to our Father who art in heaven. He wants us to say, Hallowed be thy name, and he wants us to say, Thy kingdom come. See, as members of the kingdom of God, Jesus wants us to recognize the supremacy of God in all things, and so we worship him as nothing less than our sovereign, Lord, Master, and King. And it is our heart's desire to submit to him in every area of our lives. There was a writer in the 20th century, uh British writer named Malcolm Muggridge. Um he said once in his uh book called Jesus, the Man Who Lives, he said this. Jesus' good news then was that the kingdom of God had come, and that he, Jesus, was its herald and expounder to men. More than that, Muggridge said, in some special and mysterious way, he was the kingdom. That is, Jesus himself was the kingdom. Again, Malcolm Muggridge from Jesus the Man Who Lives, published in 1975. I'll put that uh quote and the book title and everything in the show notes of this episode of the podcast if you want to look that up, but you can access that on the villagechapel.com if you need to. But what does it look like to be living in God's kingdom and for his kingdom to come into our lives and to be a part of his kingdom? What does it look like? Well, you know, locals from any given locale, any kingdom or any nation or any people group, they might be known for how they speak a certain way. Maybe they walk and talk a certain way or dress a certain way. Jesus calls us to follow him, to live in union with him, to in effect be locals with him, uh, at home in God's kingdom, in the heav in the kingdom of heaven. James K.A. Smith, in a book called You Are What You Love, said it this way: In Christ, we are given a heavenly passport. In his body, we learn how to live like locals in his kingdom. And that image of being in the body of Christ is uh is something that all Christians, all who put their faith, hope, and confidence in Jesus, we're all baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle Paul teaches us. And so we're given a heavenly passport. That's the way James K.A. Smith has kind of uh put it in his book, You Are What You Love. Excellent book, by the way. And that we are to live then like locals in God's kingdom. I love that image. I think that's really, really good. Very locals are at home. It's quite natural for them to be part of that kingdom, to see the Lord as their king. It becomes so much a part of who they are that they begin to serve him with great joy and delight in serving him with great joy like that. To pray that kingdom come is to seek to align all of who we are with God's honor, God's will, God's plans, and God's purposes. As subject in God's kingdom, subjects in God's kingdom, we bow before our King in every way. We bow morally, we bow, we bow intellectually, we bow emotionally, we bow before God as we seek to understand and clarify who God says we are as his sons and daughters. We bow before God all the way down to the very core of every thought and desire we have, every aspect of our identity, how we see ourselves, who we are, who we seek to become. Everything is turned over to our Father in heaven, our King Jesus, the Holy Spirit, our guide and comforter, comforter, our teacher, if you will. Because God is our King, our sovereign. We seek to hallow his name. And this becomes more and more obvious as we seek to serve him and to be subjects in his kingdom, where his life is blossoming and blooming out through our own lives. One of my favorite writers about this kind of thing is has been Dallas Willard over the years. He's gone home to be with the Lord now, but had a great opportunity to work with him at a conference many, many years ago. Kim and I did. Um, and he writes in uh his book, um, or actually, this is an article online. I'll put the link in the show notes as well. It's an article called How Does the Disciple Live? And he speaks about this whole idea. He says, as Jesus' disciple, I am his apprentice in kingdom living. I'm learning from him how to lead my life in the kingdom of the heavens as he would lead my life if he were I. It is my faith in him that led me to become his disciple. My confidence in him simply means that I believe that he is right about everything, that all that he is and says shows what life is at its best, what it was intended by God to be. And then he quotes from John 1, for in him was life, and the life was the light of men. Again, John, uh John's Gospel, uh, verse 4 of chapter 1. Again, I'll put that in the in the show notes uh for this particular episode of Timeless Truth. And and Dallas has said it so well there. It's the life of Christ living through us. We live in union with him so that we can walk in communion with him. And so my communion with the Lord is based on my union with Christ. And my union with Christ is never broken. See, that's something Christ has accomplished by his finished work on the cross, his glorious resurrection. And as the Holy Spirit baptizes me into the body of Christ, and all of you who have trusted in Christ, believed in him as your Lord and Savior, embraced this and received this beautiful gospel, this great news that though we are sinners, he loves us. He set his love upon us, and he's chosen us and called us to himself, and based upon the finished work of Christ and that alone, he has reconciled us to God and welcomed us into his family and yes, into his kingdom. So let's let's rejoice in these great truths and in being able to pray, Thy kingdom come as Jesus taught us to. I'll close with this quote by theologian J.I. Packer, one of my favorites of all time. He said, The task of the church is to make the invisible kingdom visible. All right, so that's our marching orders for today. And I um I'll take that from J.I. Packer. I think he's right there too. Let's go and live out thy kingdom come today. Let me pray. Lord, thank you for this thing we call the Lord's Prayer. Um, thank you, Jesus, for teaching your the your disciples to pray that way and us by extension as well. So when we roll through each of these phrases in the Lord's Prayer, Holy Spirit, bring them to life for us and specifically this one today, thy kingdom come. May that be the case for each and every one of us. May your kingdom come in the way we speak, in the way we think about others, in the way we think about you and our relationship with you, Lord. Um may it be the way we think about our work and the things that um that we create today, uh, the way that we interact with others, and the Lord and Lord, the way that we represent you to the watching world around us. Pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Thank you for listening to today's episode of Timeless Truth. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. Wherever you are in your walk of faith, we're glad you joined us today. And we hope this conversation encouraged, challenged, or inspired you. At the Village Chapel, we believe God's word is unique in its source, timeless in its truth, broad in its reach, and transforming in its power. To find more resources or support our ministry, visit the VillageChapel.com