Thy Kingdom and Thy Will in Our World
Dr. H. Drake Williams, III
Minister of Spiritual Enrichment

Last week, Rev David McKinley explained the key points from the opening of this prayer, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Our Father, is a term of love, respect, or endearment. Whether the word father personally draws us to God or not in our day, do know that from the way this prayer, the Lord's Prayer, was understood in Jesus' time, that it was intended to do so. By addressing God as father, the very opening of this prayer was intended to draw the one praying to a God who was good and loving, who tenderly leads and guides his followers. Our special loving relationship with God is seen the first words of this great prayer.

"Hallowed be thy name," the second part of this great prayer logically flows from the fact that we have a special relationship with the great and gracious Lord of the universe. Our special relationship with the all wise, all power, all loving, all holy God and Father of this world, would naturally lead us to say, "Lord, may your special name be hallowed." In other words, we are proclaiming may God's name be exalted, lifted up, and made higher than any other name in this universe." Forever praised and glorified be your name, O Lord.

Today, we come to the next part of this great prayer. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." This part, too, needs some explaining as we seek to pray this prayer accurately and use it as a model for our own prayer lives. So, today, we will take each part of this phrase and unpack it and also attempt to apply it to our own prayer lives.
I. Thy Kingdom is a plea for God's benevolent rule to come.
The first part of "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done" are the words "thy kingdom." The word "thy" means, of course, your. It is a word that we do not likely use in our everyday speech today. It simply means "your." What the your refers to is to a kingdom, in this case, God's kingdom. We need to think about the word kingdom for a few minutes to be able to appreciate it.

When we think of kingdoms, we naturally think of kings and the dominion that they rule over. A king or queen is naturally found in a kingdom, and that person's rule extends to the breadth of the kingdom. In the case of the kingdom, it is God who is king. It is his rule and reign that fills the kingdom. It is the place where his rule extends into our world.

Now why would it be a good thing for us as Christ's followers, his disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come?" The nature of this kingdom (of God as king) makes it a very good thing to pray for. God is a righteous and fair king. We read about the nature of the kingdom in many places within the Scripture. For example in Psalm 45:6-7, we read, "Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity; you love righteousness and hate wickedness." What do we find out about God's kingdom from verses like these? It is a place where God rules fairly. It is a place where people are treated rightly. It is the place where wickedness is weeded out.

Many people wanted righteousness and fairness then, and certainly many desire more righteousness and fairness in the year 2003. Many become upset when fairness is not found in a trial or in a particular matter of justice in our land. We know in matters of importance that it is a good thing when things are done rightly and fairly. They always are fair in his kingdom.

I am sure that many of you this past week have been following Kobe Bryant's saga. Kobe Bryant is of course, the great basketball star of the Los Angeles Lakers, an all-star, and a role model for young people. Moreover, the interest in Kobe Bryant is even greater in our area since Kobe Bryant attended Lower Merion high school, a school only some 30 minutes from our church. As we have been listening to the media these past few weeks, we know that they have been intensely interested in this case, wanting to get the latest lowdown on Kobe. Did he do it? Is he being framed? Is he the same person with the squeaky-clean image that we always thought that he was? These questions are the ones that are to be answered in the weeks ahead. The big question that is pressing this week is the question of fairness. "Will Kobe receive a fair trial?" With all of the media attention, with his status as a NBA superstar, will Kobe receive a fair trial by an impartial jury? Will justice be done? Will the person who is right win the day or will fame or public opinion or the media dictate the outcome of that trial? Fairness and justness is up for grabs.

In our world, the question of being fair is often up for grabs. Things are not always fair. The question of truth winning out is regularly in jeopardy, but this is not so in God's kingdom. God with his infinite wisdom, his vast knowledge of the past and his infinite knowledge of the future, is always fair, and he always does what is truthful and right. As Proverbs 16:11 tells us, "Honest balances and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are his work." God is always fair. He always judges rightly. His scale of what is right and what is wrong is always correct. It is always calibrated in the right way. Righteousness and justice are always on the throne when God the king rules. Inequality and injustice are always on the scaffold when God reigns. If we want justice, if we want righteousness in our world, then we should pray, God, thy kingdom come.

God's kingdom is not only one where right is lifted up and where justice is done, however. There are other great things about his kingdom. God's kingdom is also one in which true personal needs are met. In God's kingdom all those who seek the Lord will find their true needs met there - your needs and my needs. Remember today from our Responsive Reading today, the passage in Matthew 6. It is a passage that reminds us that our needs are met when we seek God's kingdom first. Remember the great verse of Matthew 6:33 (a great memory verse), "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you." The promise is that if we seek his kingdom, his rule and reign in our lives and in our world, then everything else that is necessary, everything else that is beneficial, everything else that is good for us to have in our lives will indeed come.

And what are some of those needs? Jesus shares some of those needs earlier in Matthew 6:25-26. In Matthew 6:25, Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Our needs are physical, and they are also spiritual, but God will meet these needs if we turn to him.

If I can add a word of personal testimony here, verses like these from Matthew 6 have been very important to me. During my college years I was training to be a chemist with a possibility of entering into engineering. I had applied myself many hours to mastering this discipline of chemistry - enduring courses such as instrumental methods, physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and advanced organic chemistry. I knew that the job market for one with chemical training was favorable. Besides enjoying the field of chemistry, I was expecting that my needs would be taken care of well for many years to come. Yet, as I was making my way through my junior year of college training, I felt that the Lord was calling me into the lucrative profession of ministry. Of course, I am speaking facetiously; it is not a well-paying profession. My first calling was to a mission organization called Campus Crusade for Christ, and my first assignment (as that of most missionaries) was to raise my own personal support. The organization gave us some training, but then basically sent us out on our own to raise that support. Yet, God provided for me, as I sought his kingdom first. As I made my way from mission work to seminary studies and eventually to Ph.D. studies in Scotland, once again God provided. When we moved to Scotland to begin studies for a Ph.D. in New Testament, Andrea and I arrived with Henry, then a 9-month-old, with enough money to make it through a year of a 3-year program. We arrived without housing, knowing nobody in Scotland. Yet, God once again provided for us a room and then a lovely flat where we enjoyed living for 3 years. God provided for us as we sought his kingdom first. I could go on and on about the past 15 years that I have spent in Christian service. God has always provided for my needs and for our family's needs when we have sought his kingdom first. His kingdom is one in which our needs are met, if we will simply seek that kingdom first above all others.

One final thought needs to be stated about God's kingdom. We know that it is a place where justice occurs. We know that it is the place in which all of our true needs are met as we place God first in our lives. Finally, it is of the greatest value for us as Christians. Listen to how Jesus describes God's kingdom a little later in Matthew 13:44. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." So great is the longing to receive this treasure that someone would give of one's entire possessions in order to obtain it. A verse later, we read that Jesus says this of the great value of the kingdom. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Jesus tells us everything is sold; everything is given for the great value of this kingdom. And why not? More of God as benevolent ruler, more of the God who brings true justice, more of the God who will come and satisfy our every spiritual longing and need, more of the God who will meet our physical needs. What a great thing to desire and what a great thing to pray for! May thy kingdom come.

So in summary, why should we pray "Thy kingdom come?" As we pray this sincerely, we pray for his justice to be done and our needs to be met.
II. Thy will be done is a plea for his will rather than our will to take place.
At the same time that we are to pray "Thy kingdom come," Jesus also tells us to pray "thy will be done." Thy kingdom, a kingdom of justice of mercy of peace and blessing, is what God wishes us to pray for. He also wants us to pray for "Thy will." In other words, it is a prayer for God's will to be done. God's kingdom, what we truly desire, is to come not by our wills but by thy will, his great will.

Now, of course, many of us want our wills to take place. As my wife and I are around little kids a lot as some of you are, we have noticed how quickly the word "mine" enters a child's vocabulary. That's my car; that's my bat; that's my doll; that's my rubber ducky. Mine, mine, mine. From a very early age, it is programmed within the mind of children that my way is right. We as parents do not need to teach them the word "mine." Instead, we need to teach them to share and to cooperate. We need to teach them to say "yours" and not "mine" from time to time.

So, naturally, when we grow up and think of what would most bless us, what would most please us, what would be most fair, what would meet our greatest needs, we would be thinking "my will be done; mine, mine, mine." But, and perhaps, alas, that is not what the Lord's Prayer encourages us to pray. The prayer is for thy will not my will to be done. It is not for my kingdom, but it is for thy kingdom to come. Now, if we consider the Scripture and our Schwenkfelder tradition together, we will once again notice how important it is to pray and ask for thy will to be done rather than "my will."

For example, consider passages of Scripture that make it very clear that our will can be confused. From Romans 7, the great apostle Paul, the great missionary apostle had this to say about the fickle nature of his own will. Romans 7:15-18 reads, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it." Paul states that his will wants something else than what is good. Sin and wrongdoing is waging war within him. He struggles so that he does what he does not wish to do. His will, in this great man of God, is something that he knew that he could not trust in. Another passage Gal 5:17 also speaks of internal conflict in each person's own will. It reads, "For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want." It is a good thing not to pray "my will."

If this is not sufficient enough reason not to pray my will but thy will, then consider the prayer that Jesus prays on the last night of his life. Even Jesus, the most perfect person who ever walked the face of this earth, prayed not for his own will in the final hours of his life at the Garden of Gethsemane. Consider Matthew 26:39 and then 42. "And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." And then a little further on in Matthew 26 it says, "Again he went away for the second time and prayed, 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.'" If the most perfect person that walked the face of this earth prayed "thy will" rather than "my will" what do you think that should mean for us? It certainly means that we ought to question our own abilities and ideas for bringing God's justice and his blessing to our world. Instead, we ought to pray for God's will to be done rather than our own.

Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig, the spiritual forefather of this church, also supports this. In commenting on this portion of the Lord's Prayer, he states the following. "Because all flesh strives continually against God, and the whole world . . . lies in evil, it is necessary that we should pray heartily that the will of God may be brought into us, indeed, that men might bring the will of God to pass on earth just as the angels in heaven bring it to pass, so that both the fleshly and the spiritual worlds might be united in obedience to the will of God." The flesh, the world, lies in evil; thus, it is necessary that we pray heartily that God's will be done. God's will rather than our own will.

I have thought much about this idea over these past few weeks. It occurs to me today, that we do not have many current examples of people who pray for God's will rather than their own will. And lo and behold, while I was thinking about this, my wife and I rented a movie a week or so ago, in which there was portrayed a man who prayed for God's will over his own will. The film that we were watching is called "Gods and Generals." Perhaps, you have seen it. It is a film about the Civil War and the stories behind the lives of a few of the generals. They spend some time focusing on one General for the Union, but most of the movie focuses on the lives of Generals Robert E Lee and General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, also known as Stonewall Jackson. I would recommend it for the way that piety and faith are portrayed in these men's lives amidst the trauma of Civil War.

The life of prayer that was especially highlighted was the prayer life of General Stonewall Jackson. Jackson, of course, was a well-respected general. He was previously a college professor at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) until he received his summons from the state of Virginia to command the 1st brigade of Virginia. His heroics in battle were legendary. At the First Battle of Bull Run, arguably the first major battle of the Civil War, he received his name "Stonewall." Legend has it that one of the retreating Confederate generals saw General Jackson and the first brigade of Virginia standing tall and not retreating. This man then said, "There is General Jackson, standing like a stone wall." The Confederate divisions rallied around Jackson and then won that battle. They then won many others such as the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville as they rallied around General Jackson and his Stonewall brigade.

General Stonewall Jackson was truly a heroic man, but few know that the General's prayer life was also impregnable like a stone wall. Many times within the movie he turns to the Lord in prayer. He prays with his wife when he is called up for active duty. He prays with an enlisted man as he is making a decision to be a part of his command. He prays right before the battle of Bull Run hours before he is going to make his heroic stand like a stonewall. His prayers were not merely for his own needs, but he prays often 'thy will be done.' As the movie progresses, though, Stonewall Jackson is faced with many obstacles and prayer is regularly a part of this great general's life. In one particularly important scene, he prays to the Lord about his own health. Instead of praying for his own will, he instructs those around him to pray "thy will be done. When you pray for my health make sure you pray, Thy will be done."

Reflecting on that movie and this man's prayer life, I wonder how I would have prayed in such a circumstance. Would I have been so focused on what was mine, mine, mine? Or would I like Stonewall Jackson have had the proper perspective and prayed, "Thine, thine, thine." Thy kingdom, thy kingdom of justice, thy kingdom where true needs are met, and thy kingdom which is of infinite value and pleasure is much greater mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. May God help us to pray for thy will rather than my will.
III. In earth is a plea for God's kingdom and will to be seen throughout the entire earth.
We have discussed today the prayer for thy kingdom. Thy kingdom is a kingdom of justice, a kingdom where true needs are met, and a kingdom that is of infinite value and pleasure. We have also discussed that we need to pray for "Thy will" rather than "my will." We are left now with one final phrase "in earth as it is in heaven." In earth as it is in heaven is the request for God's kingdom - his kingdom of justice, of goodness, of value and pleasure to come to the entire earth. It is not reserved for heaven; it is not reserved for us alone. It is for the entire earth.

Sometimes we as Christians forget this. We think that God's kingdom is only in heaven. No, it extends to the earth. Or we think that God's kingdom is to simply bless our own lives. No, it extends to all those on the earth. Many passages of Scripture speak about this fact that the kingdom is to come to the entire earth. In Matthew 24:14 Jesus says and prophecies, "And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come." The kingdom is to extend to this world. In Matt 28:18-19, Jesus commands his disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Where is the kingdom and where is God's will supposed to extend? Once again, it is the entire earth. In Acts 1:8, which are the final words of Jesus, we read, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." The kingdom is for the entire earth; indeed, it is to progress to the ends of the earth. It is not for heaven, and the by and by, although it is certainly there. It is not merely for each of us individually - how God will bless me, how he will take care of me. No, the kingdom is for everyone, for the entire earth.

If this is the case, that the kingdom is not only for heaven and not only for each of us individually, and if we are using the Lord's Prayer as a model prayer, then this part of the Lord's Prayer ought to encourage us to pray for things outside of our own little worlds regularly. If we are to pray for "Thy kingdom, and thy will, in this earth as it is in heaven" then we ought to have a component of our prayer lives where we are regularly praying for things outside of our own concerns. So, let me ask you, do you pray for your friend when he or she has a need that only God can meet? Do you pray for your husband or wife when only God's hand can make the difference? It would be good to remember other people's needs in prayer.

On another tact, do you pray for this church? We have many things that happen here each week. There is Christian education, there is counseling, there are missions to consider funding, and there are decisions of a spiritual nature that are being made here daily. Please pray for these things. We as pastors have even listed prayer requests on the back of the bulletin, things that you can be in prayer for regarding the spiritual life of the church, the mission life of the church, and also our relationships with other churches. Please consider adding these prayer requests to your weekly prayers so we as a church can all pray together, "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

A few weeks ago, when I spoke with you last, some of you may recall me sharing some stories of some who were tremendous examples of people who persisted and exerted themselves in prayer. I called them prayer warriors, people who were real soldiers, troopers, and regulars in prayer. Since I spoke with you last, another well-known member of the American Christian community, a prayer warrior named Bill Bright went home to be with the Lord (July 19, 2003). Bill Bright was the founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ, a mission that we support through this church. He was also a former employer of my wife and me. I met him many times as an employee of Campus Crusade. Truly, he is one of the greatest Christian visionaries of our time. He is well known for his desire to reach the world for Christ in this generation.

Bill Bright was the founder and President of Campus Crusade for Christ for many years. After much prayer and Bible study, he felt led by the Lord in 1951 at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. It started small, but as a result of consistent prayer, Bible Study, and the working of God, it soon grew to many different campuses throughout the nation - over 250. Today, Campus Crusade is found in major Universities within the area - University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, Temple, Drexel, and many others. Bill Bright's vision, however, went far beyond just the college campus, and as he prayed for college students of our nation to know Jesus Christ in a personal way, he desired that God's kingdom would come on this earth in many ways. He felt led by the Lord to reach places like the inner city of America, and an organization called Here's Life Inner City came into existence. He felt led by the Lord to help reach high school students, and he prayed and Student Venture came into existence. He felt led by the Lord to place the saving message of Jesus Christ in a shortened condensed form so that everyone could know how their sins could be forgiven by reading only a few short pages; and as a result, "The Four Spiritual Laws" one of the most widely distributed tracts was composed. We use these today in our new members classes. Finally, and perhaps, the most visionary of them all, he desired that the gospel message could be heard in every language as a result of a film. He prayed about this and as a result, the "Jesus" Film, a film, the most widely watched film in history was produced. We have shown that film in this church

Now Bill Bright was not a theologian. He was not a scholar, and certainly the man had his weak points. Yet, the thing that most impressed me about Bill Bright was his prayerful vision of God's kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven. While Billy Graham has spoken to more people this century about Jesus Christ than any other, Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ have likely trained a larger army of people to prayerfully share that message. This man's prayerful vision led to the gospel being shared on the college campus, in the inner city, on the high school campus, and in the remote jungles of Asia and Africa. Our world has lost a significant Christian leader - a true visionary who did not focus on the Christian experience for himself, who did not focus on heaven alone, but who focused on God's kingdom coming to earth. I tip my hat to the man. May we have more of his prayerful spirit for the world in our day.
Conclusion
Today, we have attempted to explain from a Biblical and Schwenkfelder Reformed perspective what the phrase "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" concerns. Thy kingdom come is a plea for God's kingdom of justice, mercy, love, and peace to come. It is a place where true needs are met. This is ultimately what is best for us. Thy kingdom and thy will are what are best, and not mine, mine, mine. God's kingdom and his will are to be done on earth rather than in heaven.

We all likely have arrived with things on our hearts that are concerning us today. Before we close this service, let's now take some time and pray in this spirit taking 1 or 2 things before the Lord and praying, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Let's pray silently, and then I will close us by leading us in the Lord's Prayer.

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 debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

A message preached by Rev. Dr. H. Drake Williams, III
Minister of Spiritual Enrichment
August 10, 2003