Your Kingdom Come

A sermon based on Matthew 6: .9-13 Preached by Charles J. Tomlin, DMin. Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership, January, 17th, 2021. In 1996, the late catholic professor, chaplain, and spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen wondered ‘just how much longer Christianity could survive in a world like ours.’ He then added: “Many voices in our land today, even wonder whether humanity can survive its own destructive powers." I guess most of us have had such thoughts. It doesn’t take much these days to push us over the edge. During the Coronavirus outbreak, several people have expressed feelings the end is near. And certainly, it does sometimes seems we are nearing the end of something. As we consider the political landscape of the world in these past 25 years, while we have seen fewer major wars talking place, we do see astounding changes, increasing tensions and greater threats from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and of course, the continual rise of China and its threat to Hong Kong and the rest of the world. We also have our own increasing conflicts here in the United States too. The recent racial unrest after the death of George Floyd, the growing disparity between the wealthy and working classes, the observable growing secular focus of our society, along with its growing suspicion of religion, along with the continue Christian decline, makes many of us wonder how much longer the world can keep going in the direction its going. I raise this issue not to depress or discourage us. As a matter of fact, I want to share a hopeful word similar to what Jesus was doing in his Sermon on the Mount when he taught his disciples the Lord''s prayer and to pray for the ‘kingdom... to come and God’s will to be done on earth, as it is in heaven.’ COME? But what does it mean to pray for the kingdom to come ‘on earth’ when many, even some Christians think the world, as it is, appears to be doomed? How can we take Jesus’ prayer for the kingdom to be a message of hope in a world that may seemed to be doomed? Interestingly, the world Jesus lived in looked like it was doomed too? If you want to see what I’m talking about read Matthew 24, where Jesus envisions pagan ’armies’ surrounding Jerusalem (Lk 21:20) and he recommends to his followers that when those armies move in they should run to safety (24:16). This will look like the end too, Jesus said, ’but the end doesn’t come yet’ (24:6). ’No one knows when that day will come’ (24:36) he explained. What he does know, and we must know too, is that ’heaven and earth will pass away but ’my word will never pass away (24:34). While it sure looked like Jesus was talking about the end, Jesus also looked beyond this ’ending’ with great hope. In the flow of this discourse Jesus also said ’the good news of the kingdom would be preached throughout the whole world’ (24:14). He even guaranteed and that all these things would take place’ in his time, in his generation (24:34). This included the ’sign’ of the Son of Man in heaven’ and the ’coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ (24:30). Again, while this language sounds like a grand finale of events, the truth was that it was both and ending and a beginning at the same time. Jesus himself referred to all these events as ’birth pangs’ (v.8), that is a painful signal that something new is about to be born, which Jesus himself named ’the good news of the kingdom’ (24:14). He also says that those who ’endure’ through all these events, ’will be saved’ (24:13). But saved for what? Luke says ’redemption coming near’ (Lk 21:28) is ’the kingdom of God come near’ (21:31), but what is this ’kingdom’ that is coming Jesus’ disciples are to ’keep awake’ (24:42), ’be ready’ (24:44), and to pray for? Has it already come? Is it still coming? How are we still to pray for this kingdom now? What does all this mean for us in a world where any kind of Kingdom of God or of Heaven seems to be further away rather than coming close and near? KINGDOM? When we think about the Kingdom we are to pray for, we need to understand, that the kingdom isn’t so much a ’place’ that comes to us, as it is a reality we come to live out in our own lives in our world. You can see this in what Jesus implies in this model prayer. Jesus said when we pray ’Your kingdom come’, we are, in fact, praying for God’s rule to come and for God’s will to be done on earth, right here and right now, right where we live today. In other words, the coming of the kingdom not only depends on what only God can and what God one day will do, the kingdom also depends on us, on what we do, and how we live our lives and allow God’s to rule and reign in us now. To pray the kingdom means that we are seeking to do God’s will, now, ’on earth as it is in heaven.’ Learning how to distinguish between God’s kingdom that is is ’not yet’, that is always beyond us and is still coming, and God’s kingdom that is ’already’ near and can be ’among’ us now is one of the most important lessons we can ever learn about the ’mystery’ and the reality of God’s kingdom. What this means is that there is always a part of God’s kingdom, rule and purpose, which we can never bring into reality, so we are relived of the burden of having to bring, or force this kingdom into the world. This is forever God’s kingdom, that comes as God determines. The kingdom never belongs to us. On the other hand, the kingdom is also a kingdom we are to pray for. Through Simon Peter, who was given the keys to the kingdom, we, the people of God, the church, have also been given the ’keys’ to the kingdom, so that we have a responsibility to both to seek and to strive, which means that we are to both work for and toward God’s kingdom that is still to come. This, while wear are relived of the burden of the kingdom, to pray for the kingdom means we are still challenged and called to live this kingdom into reality in our own lives. William Barclay, the distinguished Scottish Bible teacher, once said about the this prayer, that: "This is no prayer for the man or woman who wants and desires for things to stay the way they are." However, you and I know full well how easy it is for us to try to keep things the way we are. It is not easy to want to learn how to participate in the work of the Kingdom of God. We prefer to maintain our own safe "Kingdoms, ” don’t we, just like we also prefer to work for more achievable, recognizable earthly kingdoms too. The late Senator from North Carolina, Sam Ervin, who became nationally known during the Watergate trial, once told about a minister who somehow wound up by mistake at a Democratic Party Convention. They were meeting to select delegates and a candidate. It was a festive, banner-waving occasion. Instead of going to the church event, he somehow gets tangled up in this convention. The church building was very close to the Convention Center. The minister, who was Dr. Robert L. Abernathy, got into a discussion with slightly intoxicated delegate who was surprised that a minister would be mixed-up in political happenings. As they talked, the delegate slapped the pastor on the back and said, "Dear brother, what office are you running for?" The humble pastor said, "My dear man, I am a candidate for the kingdom of God." The somewhat drunken delegate then responded, "That''s great! I think you will be elected, because I know everyone else here at this convention, and believe me--nobody else is running for that position." This story reminds us that a true commitment to the kingdom of God will often put us in conflict with other political and personal agendas. How many of us, even as Christians, really put God’s kingdom agenda at the center of our lives, rather siding with other earthly or political agendas in this world? And to be quite honest, it’s not always easy for us to pray and live toward God’s kingdom. Without prayer, without reading God’s word, and without the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, any of us can be pulled away by worldly agenda’s from those Jesus tells us to pray for when we pray for God’s kingdom to ’come on earth as it is in heaven’. ON EARTH? So, now if we are to pray for the kingdom of God to come now, and there is also a part of that coming kingdom we can and should participate in, what are the priorities of this kingdom that are being revealed to us in this kingdom prayer, which is to be our prayer and our call to kingdom priorities hear on earth, as it is in heaven? The first priority of God’s kingdom is to pray and to work to make sure that everyone in this world, on earth, have the basics of life. Isn’t this what this prayer for ’daily bread’ means still today? Several years ago, I heard Fred Craddock, the preacher from rural Tennessee, say that the most pagan, profane, and troubling sign he ever saw on the Atlanta Freeway, read ”All you can eat!”, then with the numbers underneath, ”$6.95”. Do you know what was profane and pagan about that? It was far away from the agenda of Jesus which was ’5 loaves and 2 fish” which was not ‘all you can eat’ for just one person, but it was the agenda of making sure everyone has enough. To pray and to live the kingdom is to deliberately choose an agenda and a lifestyle that considers not only what’s in this life only for you, but it’s to also live each and everyday seeking just enough for you so that you can also consider the needs of others. What is also amazing, and perhaps surprising for some is that the first agenda of a kingdom prayer—a prayer that honors God wasn’t a spiritual agenda, but it’s a very basic, physical agenda. It’s an agenda the most basic human, physical needs be met for us, and for everyone. And isn’t that also what Jesus modeled for us in his ministry too? The very first thing Jesus did, when he preached and signified that the God’s kingdom ‘had come near’ was to help people physically; both by miracles of healing the sick and by miracles of feeding the multitudes. So, here’s the first priority of the church, when we truly seek the kingdom and hold the keys to the kingdom. Before we do anything else, our work, our first, kingdom priority, is to a ministry for meeting basic ’human need’. In a world that continues to seek our own kingdoms, and live by our own agendas, praying for God’s kingdom, is first about making sure everyone has enough. The second agenda of a kingdom prayer takes us straight to the most basic, human spiritual need: forgiveness. This is why Jesus teaches us next to pray for about forgiveness: ’Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I guess you know already, that in the very first miracle Jesus performed, according to Mark’s gospel, was to heal a man who was paralyzed by saying to him, first of all, ’Your sins are forgiven, then adding to it, ’Take up your bed and walk!’ What got Jesus in trouble with the religious leaders was that Jesus made God’s agenda, the agenda of heaven, also an earthly, human agenda. Now, through Jesus Christ, forgiveness is a divine agenda also given to us, so we too can participate in God’s kingdom by ‘forgiving the sins of others’ just as we have been forgiven. But this ‘other worldly’ agenda of forgiveness, still goes against the grain of most everything this world wants and stands for—which is much more focused on ‘revenge’ rather than forgiveness, isn’t it? In both our public and private worlds Jesus is pointing us toward an agenda that can still change both the world and us. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, a motivational speaker of another generation, was a minister who wrote a lot about spiritual healing. He once told the story one time of a lady that came to hear him preach one Sunday who was relatively young, attractive, and well dressed. After the service was over she came up to him and said: "I want to share a problem I have with you. I have an itch that will not go away, and the itch gets worse whenever I go to church. Today the itch was unbearable as I was listening to you preach." She said, "Furthermore, I constantly run a low grade fever." Dr. Peale said, "Well, I've had a lot of reactions to my messages, but I don't believe I've ever made anybody itch." The lady didn't even laugh. She said, "I'm very serious. I've gone to doctor after doctor, and no one can tell me what is wrong, and I was hoping you could help me." Dr. Peale said he thought immediately that perhaps her itching did not have a physical cause, but a mental or even spiritual cause. Dr. Peale, with her permission, called her doctor. The doctor told Dr. Peale that, in his opinion, there was nothing physically or organically wrong with this patient, but there was some kind of a neurosis or obsession that he described as a kind of mental eczema, a scratching on the inside that was, in her mind, on her skin." Dr. Peale said, "Do you know of any other problems that she might be having?" He said, "Well, I do know that she and her only sister have been on the outs for a long time, and that may be that is part of the problem." Dr. Peale called the woman in and asked her about her relationship with her sister. The story she told was not complex. But years before she and her sister had had a bitter disagreement over the disposition of the proceeds from their deceased father's estate. This lady swore after this argument that she would never again speak to her sister. So, Dr. Peale asked her, "Do you love Jesus?" She said, "Yes." He said, "Did Jesus ever hate anybody?" She said, "No." He said, "Then do you believe that with His help you can overcome your hate?" She said, "Yes, Dr. Peale, I know that with Jesus' help I can overcome my hate." He said, "Then you do right now what I'm going to tell you. You tell God that you're sorry for this sin, and you ask Him to take that hate away." She did that. Then he said, "Now, you tell God that you love your sister, and that you forgive her if she has wronged you." Dr. Peale said for a moment she hesitated, and all-of-a-sudden she burst out crying and said, "Dr. Peale, she didn't wrong me, this is all built up in my mind. She's the sweetest person on earth, and I've been such a fool." Dr. Peale said, "Now you tell Jesus right now: ‘With your help, I now let my hate go, and I affirm my love for my sister, and Lord forgive me.'" She did that. Dr. Peale said, "What is your sister's telephone number?" She gave it to him, he dialed the number and gave her the phone. She said, "I can't talk to her." Dr. Peale said, "You're going to talk to her." The sister hesitated for a moment, and then just simply said, "Sister, I love you. Would you please forgive me?" Both of those sisters began to weep and cry, and a relationship was mended. Dr. Peale said when she hung up the phone, for the first time in four years, the itching was gone and so was the fever. What doctors, medicine, psychiatry, and pills could not do, forgiveness could. Of course, ‘forgiveness’ is not a cure-all for everything, but without ‘forgiveness’, as Desmond Tutu, of South African, once said, ‘there is no future’. That’s at least how it was in South Africa, when Apartheid was being dismantled by the ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ Committee. Without ‘forgiveness’ the agenda of personal and public healing could not happen. And this ‘forgiveness’ doesn’t mean, he said, denying the past, or ignoring it, but it mean facing it, and then deliberately ‘forgiving it’ and those who have ‘hurt us’ so that life can move forward. That’s why forgiveness is so important to God’s coming kingdom. Finally, perhaps the most personal priority of God’s kingdom is to pray to be ‘rescued from evil,’ or, as our translation says, ‘to be rescued from the evil one’. I find it most interesting that more a modern translation reminds us that this pray is not just to be delivered from ‘evil’, but it’s a prayer to be delivered from ‘the one’ who leads or ‘carries’ (Grk) us into temptation. This is to make this problem of evil in our world, not simply any kind of problem, but it’s primarily a human problem. It’s a problem that can happen to any of us, even good people too, because we can all be ‘lead’ or get ‘carried away’ by evil. It’s also a problem that can only be solved when we want it to be solved, when we want to overcome it, and when we lift up and help each other overcome the negatives of life, rather than pull each other down, which enables ‘the evil one’, that is Satan, the devil, to gain the upper hand over us. What I think this final major kingdom agenda teaches us about God’s kingdom, and how it comes into our world, here and now, is that it must be something we choose and want. Scripture says that we are led astray and tempted by our wayward lesser ‘desire’ (Jam. 1:14-15) and that the only way we can every overcome this ‘desire’ is to replace it with the greater desire, which God gives through Jesus Christ. Last year, officials in Tuscaloosa Alabama found that several college students had organized “COVID-19 parties” as a contest to see who would get the virus first. These students hosted parties to intentionally infect each other with the coronavirus. The plan was to purposely invite some guests who tested positive for COVID-19. Then, they put money in a pot, and invite others who try to get COVID. Whoever got COVID first, got the pot. Of course, city officials were furious to that something so serious and deadly was being taken for granted. Not only was it irresponsible, but those who contracted the virus might survive, but then they could take it home to their parents or grandparents. This kind of ‘wayward’ desire is very strange, but it reminds us of just how easily it is for youth, and any of us to be pulled away from what matters most about what life and living is supposed to be about. And what is that? Those youth certainly couldn’t. They had nothing in their lives that could keep them from giving into their lowest desires. This brings us right back to what Jesus taught us to pray about the kingdom. This is a prayer, not about getting to heaven when we die, but this is a prayer about God’s will being done, now, on earth, as it is in heaven. This prayer leads us away from the ‘temptation’ to live a lesser, and lower life by inspiring us to live toward God’s future with hope, not despair. Amen.