Matthew 6:9-15 – Your will be done, by Rev. Colin Pretorius.
(The fourth sermon in a series on the Lord’s Prayer.)
Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at the first part of the Lord’s Prayer. In the opening line of the prayer, we saw that Christ authorised those who accepted Him as their Saviour, to address His heavenly Father as our Abba, “Our Father in heaven”. We also saw that the Abba part is like one side of a balanced equation. The other side of the equation is the awe and reverence and honour and praise with which we need to approach God because He is also the Almighty Creator God.
We then looked at the first of the three God-focused petitions, that God’s name would be made holy. We saw that this petition should guide our lives in all we do. In this part of the prayer we appeal to our Father to let His name be sanctified, especially in our actions and the way we live our lives.
And then two weeks ago we looked at the second petition, the prayer that God’s kingdom will come. We saw that it is a prayer based on both Old and New Testament principles. The prayer for God’s kingdom to come has a very real and important meaning in the here-and-now but it also points towards the future. It is a prayer of repentance and a prayer for the waiting harvest. It is a prayer for the consummation of God’s kingdom, when under Christ’s rule our hearts will be pure and everything will be done to the glory of God.
This morning we come to the last of the three God-focused petitions “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. One of the most important things about God’s kingdom is that there His will is being done. And if there is just one thing you remember about today’s sermon, remember this: It is about submission to God’s will. If you walk away today with just one thing, it is this: Asking for God’s will to be done has to do with submission and obedience to the Father. Or if you need to hear it another way: Jesus is calling on you and me to pray for the world’s submission as well as our own submission to God. Against that background let’s look at our text by asking three questions:
- What is meant by “the will of God”?
- How does praying for God’s will to be done apply to the world?
- How does praying for God’s will to be done apply to us?