God’s Will
Today we’re continuing our 5 week teaching series on The Lord’s Prayer. We’re studying a time when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, so we can learn to pray like he taught them to pray. It’s a great series for skeptics and believers to grow in understanding prayer, so we can learn how to pray, and learn why God doesn’t always answer our prayers like we want. What Jesus will teach us today is to pray for God’s kingdom to come, and his will to be done. He’ll specifically teach us to pray for God’s will to shape our will.
This is an important thing for us to learn in prayer, because the reality is sometimes your desired will doesn’t align with the Father’s will, and life doesn’t go the way you want. What do you do when that happens?...What do you when life doesn’t go the way you want?...What do you do when your education, your career, your marriage, family, ministry, life doesn’t go the way you want?...What do you do when your desired will, doesn’t align with God’s will?...In today’s text Jesus will teach us to pray for God’s kingdom to come, and for God’s will to be done. He’ll teach us to pray for God’s will to shape our will, so let’s turn to Matthew 6 and get into it. If you open your Bible to the middle and keep turning right, you’ll find Matthew. We’ll be in Matthew 6:9-11, and Matthew 26:36-39. Title of the message is God’s Will, and the big idea is: Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s will to shape our will...Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s will to shape our will...
Context:
Here’s your context. The Lord’s Prayer is recorded in two places in the Bible, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. We’re studying Matthew’s record because it’s a little more detailed than Luke’s. But what’s interesting is Luke’s record says Jesus is teaching this prayer because one of his disciples asked him how to pray. So the implication is that prayer is something we need to learn. If we need to be taught to pray, then it means prayer is something we need to learn. It’s something we need to grow in. The reality is we all struggle with prayer, we all have room to grow in prayer, and Jesus is about to teach us 3 things about prayer. So let’s check it out.
The Word:
Matthew 6:9-11 states, “You should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” One of the things I mentioned last week is that Jesus starts The Lord’s Prayer with giving adoration to the Father, before giving any attention to our requests. He teaches us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Holy is your name.” The entire focus is on giving adoration to the Father, before giving any attention to our requests from the Father. In vs. 10 Jesus continues keeping the focus on the Father when he teaches us to pray your kingdom come and your will be done, meaning the Father’s kingdom come and the Father’s will be done. So the 1st thing we’re learning here is...
#1 Pray for the Father’s kingdom and the Father’s will. – We need to pray for the Father’s kingdom and the Father’s will, because we’re often focusing on our kingdom and will. We’re often focusing on our agendas and desires more than the Father’s. But Jesus is teaching us to pray, “Father your kingdom come, your will be done. Not my kingdom come, my will be done.” When you pray your kingdom come, your will be done, you’re asking the Father to fix your heart, not just the world. You’re asking the Father to come rule in your heart and life, in a way that makes the Father’s kingdom and the Father’s will more visible here on earth as it is in heaven.
Now to be clear, Jesus isn’t talking about praying for God’s sovereign will; he’s talking about praying for God’s revealed will. God’s sovereign will is his hidden power and control over all things, making sure his plans are 100% accomplished. We don’t need to pray for his sovereign will to be done, because his sovereign power guarantees his sovereign plans will be done. But God’s revealed will is his moral commands, which people can reject and disobey. So we don’t need to pray for God’s sovereign will to be done, but we do need to pray for God’s revealed will, his moral commands to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We need to pray for God’s revealed will to be lived out in our hearts and lives, so we can make the Father’s kingdom and will more visible in our marriages, our families, our city, and world. The more we pray scripture, the more our prayers will be aligned with the Father’s revealed will. The more we pray scripture, the more our prayers will be aligned with the Father’s heart. The reason the first part of The Lord’s Prayer is so focused on the Father and not our requests, is because Jesus knows we need our hearts to be realigned with the Father’s heart. We need our agendas and desires to be realigned with the Father’s agenda and desires. We need our kingdom and will to be realigned with the Father’s kingdom and will. So we need to pray your kingdom come, your will be done, before our requests.
Again vs. 10, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread.” Notice there’s now a shift to praying for our needs and requests. There’s a shift from your name, your kingdom, your will, to give us our daily bread. The first half of the Lord’s prayer focuses on the Father, but the second half is focusing on our requests from the Father. Jesus says we can pray, "Give us today our daily bread." What he’s teaching us is that the Father doesn’t mind if we pray for our daily needs and requests. So the 2nd thing we’re learning here is...
#2 Pray for your daily needs and requests. – It’s okay to pray for your daily needs and requests. What’s interesting is when Jesus teaches us to pray for daily bread, the Greek word for daily isn’t used anywhere else in the bible. In fact, it’s almost non-existent in all forms of Greek literature in this era of history. It’s a word that means daily, necessity, or essential. Most scholars agree that the reason Jesus uses it here, is so we’ll realize we need to rely on the Father daily. It’s so we’ll realize our reliance and dependency on the Father is a daily necessity. It’s essential! Just like we’ll become physical malnourished without daily food; we’ll become spiritually malnourished without daily dependency on the Father. So this part of the Lord’s prayer is teaching us to shrink our illusion of self-sufficiency, and to increase our dependency on the Father. But we don’t realize this as much as we should, because we rarely pray in desperation for daily bread. Our abundant, comfortable American lifestyle has trained us to forget our need for daily dependence on the Father. In his book “Just Ask,” J.D. Greear states, “For most of our spiritual brothers and sisters around the world, and at many points throughout history, it makes complete sense to ask God for daily food. This request comes naturally to them, but it seems foreign to us. That comfort can delude us into thinking we can function as independent, autonomous, self-sufficient demigods. Sooner or later life gives us a rude awakening. A microscopic virus comes along that destroys our way of life. One stock market crash robs us of our fortunes. An unexpected call into your boss’s office upends your plans for the future. The doctor’s diagnosis turns everything upside down. ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ might be more relevant to us than we know, even if our pantries are stocked with supplies.”
The point is we rarely pray to the Father for daily bread out of desperation, but eventually something will shatter our American lifestyle of delusional self-sufficiency. Jesus is teaching us it’s okay to go to the Father for daily bread or anything else we need. He’s inviting us to go to the Father with our needs and requests, but to also trust the Father’s decisions in response to those requests. He’ll always provide us not with necessarily what we want, but with exactly what we need. Like I said before, sometimes you don’t get what you want. Sometimes life doesn’t go the way you planned. Sometimes the Father says “no” to your requests; he says “no” to your desired will, just like he did to Jesus. Let’s turn to Matthew 26 so we can see how Jesus handled it when the Father said “no” to his request. It’s in Matthew 26:36-39, just before Jesus was crucified.
Matthew 26:36-39 states, “Then Jesus came to a place called Gethsemane, and he told the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ 37 Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 He said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.’” Notice Jesus was sorrowful, he was deeply grieved. A better translation of the original Greek manuscripts is, “My soul is sorrowful. My soul is deeply grieved.” The reason his soul is sorrowful and deeply grieved is because he knows his crucifixion is on the horizon. He’s physically, emotionally, and spiritually carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’s carrying the weight of our sins on his shoulders. In fact he’s under such deep sorrow and grief, that Luke’s record tells us he starts sweating drops of blood. It’s an extremely rare medical condition called hematidrosis. It’s where tiny blood vessels around the sweat glands rupture, and your body starts sweating drops of blood. It only happens when a person is under extreme distress. Hematidrosis is so rare that most doctors will never see a single case in their entire medical career. The fact that Jesus was experiencing this in Gethsemane tells us he was experiencing a very rare, much deeper sorrow and grief than any of us could ever imagine. So how does Jesus respond?...How does Jesus respond when his soul is sorrowful and deeply grieved?...
Vs. 39, “Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed...” Jesus prayed...The text says he fell facedown andprayed...How do you respond when your soul is stressed?...How do you respond when your soul is stressed, sorrowful, deeply grieved?...Do you drink some wine, sip some bourbon, eat some edibles, eat your worries away, or do you pray like Jesus?...Do you read a book or binge-watch something on Netflix to distract yourself from your problems, or do you pray like Jesus?...How do you respond when your soul is stressed?...Jesus fell facedown and prayed...He’s praying, not pretending, and he’s teaching us to pray, instead of pretending too. He’s teaching us to take our stress to the Father in prayer, instead of pretending like everything is okay when it isn’t.
Again vs. 39, “Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, ‘My Father, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” Notice his prayer is short and sweet. He doesn’t use fancy words. He doesn’t use many words. He doesn’t even go through the first step in The Lord’s Prayer, giving the Father adoration before his requests. It’s because The Lord’s Prayer is an example of how to pray, but it isn’t the only way to pray. When our soul is stressed like this, Jesus is teaching us to go to the Father about our stress. He keeps his prayer short and sweet, but he also keeps it honest and open. He’s honest about his feelings and his desired will, but he’s also open to trusting the Father’s will. He prays take this cup of suffering from me, which is his desired will. But then he prays not as I will but as you will.It’s a very honest, but open prayer, and he prays this prayer two more times in vs. 42-44. But the Father says “no” to his request. The Father says “no” to Jesus prayer, and that’s when Jesus starts sweating blood. It’s because he knows the Father’s “no,” means the crucifixion isn’t on the horizon, it’s right in front of him...But Jesus responds to the Father’s “no,” with a “yes” to the Father’s will. He says “yes” to the Father’s will, and “yes” to the cross for us. So the 3rd and last thing we’re learning here is...
#3 Pray for your desired will, but trust in the Father’s will. – It’s okay to pray for your desired will, but trust in the Father’s will like Jesus did. Jesus prioritized the Father’s will over his own desired will, just like he taught us to do in The Lord’s Prayer. He didn’t just teach us to pray for the Father’s will; he also perfectly lived out the Father’s will. His heart changed in Gethsemane from fear to faith, and it’s a perfect example of how we should let prayer cause our desired will, to be shaped by the Father’s will, even when it's painful. It’s okay to go to the Father praying, “I’m single, but I want to get married...I’m married, but I want to have a child...I’m working, but I hate my job, and I want to find a better job...I’m stressed, struggling, suffering a Gethsemane moment, and I want this cup of suffering to pass from me...” Jesus teaches us it’s okay to pray for our desired will in our Gethsemane moments, but he also teaches us to trust in the Father’s will. He teaches us to go to the Father praying, not my will be done, but your will be done. But many of us struggle with prayer when the Father’s answer isn’t what we wanted. When this happens people are like, “Prayer isn’t working.” Oh it’s working, you just don’t like the answer the Father’s given you. The Father is always giving us answers, we just don’t always like the answers he’s giving us.
See the Father answers every one of our prayers in 1 of 3 ways. It’s yes, no, or not yet, but later...Sometimes the Father says, “Yes.” Sometimes the Father says, “No.” Sometimes the Father says, “Not yet, but later...I want to give this to you, but you can’t handle it yet. So it’s not yet, but later.” It’s the same way parents respond to their children. I mean if I only said “yes” to my kids, you’d view me as a terrible parent. “Hey Dad can I eat ice cream all day?” Yes. “Can I skip school all year?” Yes. “Can I give my brother a swirly?” Yes. “Can I have a Red Bull before bed?” Yes. If I only said “yes” to my children, you’d view me as a terrible parent. I think both skeptics and believers agree that sometimes a parent should say “no” to their children. But if you agree that a parent should sometimes say “no” to their children, then what makes you think the Father shouldn’t ever say “no” to you?...If you think it’s good for a parent to sometimes say “no” to their children, then what makes you think it isn’t good when the Father says “no” to you?...If anything we should trust the Father’s “no” over any other parent’s “no,” because the Father is hallowed, the Father is holy, which means all his decisions are holy. His yes, no, and not yet but later are all holy decisions, even if you can’t understand his decisions. The Father is infinite in wisdom, which means he could have an infinite amount of good reasons for saying yes, no, or not yet but later to your prayers. The greatest example of this is the Father’s “no” to Jesus was for an infinitely good reason, because it turned into a “yes” for us. The Father’s “no” to Jesus, turned into a “yes” for our eternal salvation and future resurrection in heaven with Christ. So pray for your desired will, but trust in the Father’s will. Trust that the Father’s will is still good in the yes, the no, and the not yet, but later.
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is Jesus teaches to pray for God’s will to shape our will... The reality is sometimes your desired will isn’t aligned with the Father’s will, and life doesn’t go the way you want. Sometimes you face suffering, you have Gethsemane moments, you pray for the Father to take your cup of suffering, but the Father says “no” just like he said “no” to Jesus. When this happens, Jesus teaches it’s okay to ask the Father for your desired will, but also pray for the Father’s will to shape your will. Pray not my will be done, but your will be done. If you’re a skeptic, the Father said “no” to Jesus, so he could say “yes” to you. Jesus didn’t submit to the Father’s will for nothing; he submitted to the Father’s will for you. He died on the cross so you could put your faith in him, be forgiven of your sins, and have an eternal relationship with the Father too...
If you’re a believer, whose will is shaping your life?...Whose will is shaping your life?...Is it the Father’s will, or your will?...Consider shifting your prayers this week from “Here’s my plans and what I want,” to “Father help me trust your plans and what you want.” Spend time this week praying for your desired will, then spend time submitting to the Father’s will saying, “Not my will, but your will be done.” In the words of R.C. Sproul, “Jesus came to the garden with the fear that he’d have to drink the cup. Once he knew it was indeed God’s will that he drink it, he had a new fear that he wouldn’t be able to do it...But he did! He drank the cup to the last drop! In that moment, Jesus didn’t give us words to show us how to pray; he gave us his life as an example of praying, that the will of God would be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” City Awakening let’s trust the Father like Jesus. Let’s pray for the Father’s kingdom to come, the Father’s will to be done, until it’s finally done on earth as it is in heaven, and there’s no more suffering Gethsemane moments...