THE LORD’S PRAYER
Matthew 6:13
THINE IS THE KINGDOM
Part #8 of 8 on The Lord's Prayer
(If you have missed any
of the parts of this series, or would just like the series on one email,
contact me at jpeters@alltel.net.)
I personally wonder how long
God needs to bombard us with His loving-kindness, mercy, grace, and yes
discipline, before we surrender to Him. In preparing for this message I was
struck in a new way by the fact that the Lord's Prayer concludes in absolute
submission to God. That makes me think
that one of the reasons that we do not see more prayers answered is because we
are not submissive to God. We are holding out for our will, our own plans and
our own satisfaction.
The Lord's Prayer in
Matthew concludes with the words, "For thine is
the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."
Do you see surrender
there?
Do you see submission
there?
"Thine is the Kingdom" - ALL AUTHORITY BELONGS TO HIM!
These words come off our
lips very easily, "Thine is the Kingdom."
But I fear that our
hearts do not always match our lips.
Matthew 15:8 -
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their
mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their
heart is far from me."
I fear that in our
hearts in various ways we say, "MY kingdom come!"
We want our time to be
used the way we want to use it.
We want our money to be
used the way we want to use it.
We want our children to
succeed in the way we want them to succeed.
We want our plans to be
approved by God so we will have what we want.
We want our church to be
comfortable, and not necessarily as aggressive as Jesus would have us to be.
What is authority? To me
it is right to tell someone what to do. You can certainly see how God has that
authority.
* He has authority
because he is creator. Genesis 1:1
* He has authority
because he is omnipotent. Jeremiah 32:17
* He has authority
because He is our Father. John 1:12
And what about the Lord
Jesus, does He have authority? Matthew 28:18, Colossians 1:17-19, Philippians
2:10-11, 1 Corinthians 15:25
And we must also
remember that there is judgment coming.
The unsaved will face
Jesus at the "Great White Throne". Revelation 20:11-12
The saved will meet
"Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans
14:12
God the Father has authority.
God the Son has
authority.
Does God the Holy Spirit
have authority?
Although He works in
cooperation with the Father and the Son, He still has authority. He's the
Spirit of God. He's the Spirit of Christ. His directions and leadership is to
be followed!
We should not quench the
Spirit through unbelief or grieve the Spirit through disobedience. 1
Thessalonians 5:19, Ephesians 4:30
So what are we saying
when we say "thine is the kingdom"?
We are saying that God
the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have every right to rule right
now.
We are recognizing God's
right to rule.
We are recognizing God's
rule in our lives.
We are submitting to
God's Will, in every part of the prayer which we have just prayed.
If it's God's Kingdom,
He is King!
We are saying that He is
king over our bodies.
We are saying that He is
king over our behavior.
We are saying that He is
king over our plans.
We are saying that He is
king in this church.
We are saying that He is
king in our families.
"Thine is the Power" - ALL ABILITY BELONGS TO HIM!
We try too hard.
We face a problem and
try to solve it ourselves.
We face a challenge and
try to solve it ourselves.
We try to serve Christ
in our own strength.
We try to build this
church in own strength.
We try to witness in our
own strength.
We try to live the right
way in our own strength.
When in reality, as we
pray, "thine is the power", we are
realizing that we can't do it in our own strength. Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah
32:27, Luke 18:27
How has God planned for
His work to get done through His children? Through dependence upon Him! John
14:12-14, John 15:4-7
"Thine is the Glory" - ALL ADORATION BELONGS TO HIM!
There is another problem
that we have which requires our total surrender.
We want too much of the
attention for ourselves.
We want too much of the
credit for ourselves.
We want to have glory
for what is accomplished. Luke 17:7-10, Matthew 23:11
We need to realize that
it is God, the Father, and God the Holy Spirit who are deserving of glory.
Read Revelation 4
"Thine is the Kingdom" - ALL AUTHORITY BELONGS TO HIM!
"Thine is the Power" - ALL ABILITY BELONGS TO HIM!
"Thine is the Glory" - ALL ADORATION BELONGS TO HIM!
So the issue comes back
to our submission or surrender.
How long will it take for
us to surrender in our hearts to the Lord Jesus?