The Kingdom

Hello everybody, it is great to see you this morning. My name is Valerie, I'm one of the pastors here on staff. Whether you're here in person, joining us on the live stream, I'm just so glad that you're with us today. It's good to be in church together.

Well I wanna start with a question for you. Have you ever been blissfully going about your life, loving how things are going, and then suddenly somebody comes up to you and they ask you a question like, what are your plans? What's your purpose? You know like a little beads of sweat start to form and you think, oh, I don't know. And these questions keep coming and they actually start really young. I mean I have even myself looked a three year old in the eye and said, what do you wanna be when you grow up? As if they could know that. And they keep coming, that question intensifies as you go through high school and you get further in. What do you wanna be? Are you gonna go to school? What are you gonna study?

And then you study something and then people say, well, what are you gonna do with what you studied now? How are you gonna make a living? Where are you gonna live? When in the world are you gonna get married? And then you get married and they're, when are the kids coming along? Then you have the kid and they're like, well that's only one. When is the second kid coming along? And then you keep getting older and then you have to start answering questions about your kids. People ask you, what's your kid doing? When's your kid gonna get married? When are you gonna be a grandparent? And the question I've heard recently is, when are you gonna retire? These questions just keep coming and they can stir in us this sense of uneasiness and concern and we think, I gotta have an answer for this. What am I doing? How will I survive? When will I retire? Will I ever be able to retire?

And we get stressed and doubt starts to creep in. And we think, am I just making choices so that I have answers to questions? And you could be three or you could be 83 and it can throw you into this existential crisis. All the questions, what's your purpose? Why? Well I have good news for you today because the verse we are going to study today is going to answer that question. The verse we're going to study today is going to tell you your purpose. No matter what life stage you're in, no matter how you answer any of those other questions, this verse will tell you your purpose.

So let's open up our Bibles to Matthew 6. Matthew is the first book in the second half of the Bible as we continue our summer series, The Jesus Way, a study in the Sermon on the Mount. And the Sermon on the Mount is the longest recorded sermon or saying of Jesus that we have. And we're pretty much right in the middle right now, spending the month of July going phrase by phrase through the Lord's Prayer. And the Lord's Prayer might be something that you're familiar with, you probably are. Maybe in your tradition you called it the Our Father. But whether it's new to you or familiar to you, it's so good for us to slow it down and to really look at this prayer, to examine every phrase, to take it from something that we just recite to something that we actually live.

And as I was soaking in the Lord's Prayer this week, preparing to share with you this morning, I was really struck by the order of the Lord's Prayer. It starts our Father who art in heaven, and I may slip into the King James occasionally, our Father in heaven. The prayer begins by establishing relationship between us and God. And it's not our distant being, it's our Father. That's the relationship we have, our Father. And then last week we focused on the phrase, "Hallow it be thy name." And we found out that Hallowed tells us about the character of God, the holiness of God, the reputation of God.

And now this weekend we're looking at Matthew 6:10 that says, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And I think this order matters. We're not just asking for any old kingdom to come. We're asking for the kingdom of our Father whose character we can trust. We're asking for his kingdom to come, his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Pastor John Orpburg says that this part of the Lord's Prayer, this phrase, is a great reorientation. It helps to shift our minds and to reorient our lives.

It's like this, you know, in the olden days when we used to walk into malls to go shopping, you would walk into a mall and you would see a giant map. You know, it would have a dot on it and to help you get oriented it would say, "You are here." We have these maps on our campus. And you'd look at that map and you'd look at the "You are here" dot and look at your feet and go, "Okay, I kinda see where I am." And those maps are mostly super helpful for getting you oriented in your space. I've seen some "You are here" maps though that are less helpful than others. Sometimes you see a "You are here" map and it just feels a little too on point. Feels maybe just a little bit true to daily life.

But this verse, this verse, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," this verse invites us to pull up from the questions, to pull up from the dailiness, to pull up from the routine and to reorient ourselves, to locate ourselves in the much bigger picture of who God is and his kingdom. And that word kingdom, you're gonna hear this all through the New Testament. Jesus used this word all the time, kingdom, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven. If you were to ask Jesus, "Why are you here?" Why would you leave heaven in all its splendor and come here? What would he say? We don't have to wonder. We know exactly what he would say because he said it again and again and again from the very first day of his ministry.

Jesus said things like, "The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news." When he was traveling around healing people in one village, tried to keep him, to keep the healing going, he said, "No, I can't stay here. I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also." And watch this last phrase, because that is why I was sent. That is why I was sent. And even after he was crucified and rose from the dead, he was still talking about the kingdom. I would have maybe like to have heard some things about, like what's it like to be dead and then alive again? But he was talking about the kingdom.

In Acts 1:3, it says, "He appeared to them, the disciples and others, over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God." He could have said anything in that time, but he spoke about the kingdom of God. Unless you think that this was just kind of a Jesus thing, and it faded away, take a look at the last few verses of the book of Acts, the apostle Paul's under house arrest in Rome, and what's he doing? He's witnessing from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, proclaiming the kingdom of God. In all, Jesus uses this term and this word almost 100 times, and in the New Testament, it's there almost 165 times. This is not a fringe concept for Jesus or for the early church. This was a giant, the kingdom of God was a giant, you are here, locator for them.

But the word kingdom, I mean, let's admit it, for us, it's kind of weird. We don't use that word a lot, especially in the States. And for me, when I think of the word kingdom, I think of, you know, mythical things like Camelot and castles and fortresses and things like that, but the original hearers of all of this, they knew all too well about kingdoms and about kings. And when Jesus said the kingdom is near, they thought, yes, kick out the Romans. It's finally our time. We get power, we get a kingdom, and the people were so ready. Bring it on, Jesus, bring on the kingdom.

But the kingdom that Jesus talks about, the kingdom that we are told to pray for is not simply a plea to kick out the Romans. Jesus had to keep defining this term for us because we can get kingdom and power so messed up. He kept using word pictures to help us. In Luke 13, he said, the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. I don't know if you've ever seen a mustard seed, but it is tiny, which a man planted in his garden and that little tiny seed became a tree. Or he said the kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about 60 pounds of flour. It cracks me up that Jesus pulled that number out of the sky, but it's like yeast, that little bit of yeast that works through the whole dough.

Or when the disciples one time were trying to keep children away from Jesus, he said, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Let the little children come to me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. For Jesus, the kingdom is about things that start small and grow. The unexpected, it doesn't start with conquests and captures, it starts with small choices, small decisions, unexpected people. But where in the world is this kingdom? Because if you've lived on this planet for any length of time, you know that we are not about the little and the small. We are about the big and the bigger and the crushing of the small. So where is this kingdom? Is this kingdom now? Is this kingdom something in the future? Yes, it's both. The kingdom is both now and not yet.

In Luke 17, Jesus himself proclaimed that the kingdom was in our midst. But Jesus talked a lot about, and the Bible talks a ton about the fulfillment of the kingdom. The day when earth and heaven are fully restored and reunited. Did you know that the Bible basically ends where it began? The Bible ends with a restored planet, with God dwelling with us, with sin gone and God reigning on the throne. The now and the not yet. And then there's that next phrase, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So are we praying for two different things? Is God's kingdom and God's will, are those two different things? No, God's will will always be in keeping with God's kingdom. I think the second phrase is explaining the first phrase.

Saying God's kingdom does not have any boundaries, but God's kingdom is anywhere that his will is being done. That's where God's kingdom is on earth as it is in heaven. But God's kingdom, God's will, the future restoration of heaven and earth, this all feels a little bit above our pay grade, doesn't it? I mean, we can't really do a whole lot about this. It is after all God's kingdom, God's will, restoring the whole planet and things like that. And so it can feel like maybe we don't really have a choice in this prayer. Well, okay, I'll pray your kingdom come, your will be done because what else am I gonna pray about right now? You're gonna do what you're gonna do, God.

No, this prayer is not just a statement of hope. It's not just an admission of God's position and God's power. This prayer is an invitation. It's an invitation to all of us. This prayer is a giant you are here locator. The God of all the earth, the king of all, could have perfectly within his power just gone, you get no choice. You're gonna do it my way, how I want it, and you get no choice. But God doesn't do that. He wants a relationship with us. He's our father. And so he invites us to be part of the kingdom. And in the time that we have remaining today, I wanted to look at what does it mean to be part of the kingdom of God? What does that mean in our lives practically every day?

And I think we see three things in just this one part of the prayer. We see three things that the kingdom calls us to. And the first thing that I think the kingdom calls us to is an invitation, a call to perspective. To perspective on life. I mean look at the pronouns that are used. It says your kingdom come, your will be done. God's kingdom, God's will, not my kingdom and my will. That is a perspective shift for us. God, not. Now I'm gonna guess that probably nobody in this room when you were little had to be taught to grab something and say mine. If you're a parent in this room, I'm pretty sure that you never had to take one of your children and go, no, no, no sweetie, this is how you do it. Quickly and say mine. It just kinda comes standard with all the humans. We know how to do this.

I've said before that when I was a little girl, my favorite phrase was me do it. Often with hands on hips for emphasis. Me do it. It didn't matter if I was capable of doing it or not, I would tell my mom and dad, me do it. I'm sad to report that very little has changed for me. Me do it is still one of my favorite phrases. My words are slightly more sophisticated now, but my heart is still the same. Me do it. My kingdom come. And this is at the root of so much of the trouble and the conflict that we have in our relationships. The kingdom of me comes into conflict with the kingdom of you. And we begin to see the world, we see others' actions, we hear their words through the kingdom of me. How does this impact me? And we suddenly find our kingdoms in competition.

And I see you advancing, I think no, my kingdom needs to advance. And we try to out-kingdom each other. Well that's not the solution. The solution is not to out-kingdom each other. The solution is to completely shift our perspective to a different kingdom. To the kingdom of God. To relocate our you are here dot. Your kingdom come, your will be done. The perspective shift away from our kingdoms to God's kingdom. And this is really the plot line of the whole Bible. The whole Bible is this conflict between the kingdom of me, the kingdoms of this world that are all messed up by sin and it's broken people in a broken world. And so these kingdoms are broken. But then there's a kingdom of God. A new perspective for all of us.

A kingdom that doesn't say blessed are the big, but says blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And this is not an easy perspective shift for us to do because every single day in my sinfulness, in my relationships, in my circumstances, even in pithy sayings on social media, every single day I am tempted to focus on and promote my kingdom. My kingdom. But don't give in. Don't give in to that. Peace is found in shifting perspective to the kingdom of God. I mean, what rest have you ever thought about how exhausting it is to constantly be defending your kingdom? Just constantly, no, my kingdom, my kingdom, my kingdom, my kingdom. It's exhausting. But what blessed rest comes in saying, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Second, I think this prayer is a kingdom call to patience. This is the not yet part. It's a call to patience. I thank the Lord that our Bible is full of verses that tell us things like Isaiah 9:7 of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. The Lord will accomplish this. God's government, God's peace, it will come. Not yet. Revelation is full of these kinds of verses. From Revelation 21, it says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. That is seriously some of the best news you're ever gonna read in the Bible. And then those wonderful comforting words that say, he will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away.

And then in Revelation 7, we get a glimpse of what this kingdom looks like. And it says, I stood and there before me was a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and the lamb. And what are we doing? Together we are saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. What an amazing vision of the not yet kingdom. The not yet kingdom where races are reconciled. The not yet kingdom where the sick are healed. The not yet kingdom where the hungry are fed. And this kingdom is on its way. It is on its way. We just have to be patient. And this is hard because the lack of peace, the lack of justice, the brokenness that we all experience in this world. It's tough. I hate it.

Sometimes I just look up and I wanna say, God, let's just get this no more tears kingdom rolling along right now. I'm tired of waiting. But you know what happens to me? And I don't know if you're like this or not. But when I get impatient with God's kingdom, I look for a quicker solution. I look for a way to get around God's timeline. To do it differently, to do it the way I think it should be done. I see someone acting unjustly and I think, I'm gonna usher in God's kingdom on you right now. No need to wait. We'll just go at it right now. And I insert myself and I insert my ways where they don't belong. When we are impatient for that not yet kingdom, we can be tempted to settle for a lesser king. We can be tempted to settle for a lesser kingdom.

For me, I'm always tempted to settle for control. Well, perceived control, who am I kidding? But I like the perception. And I am tempted to settle for me making everything fit in the box and in the timeline and in the way I want it. Quite popularly, in an election year, many people are tempted to settle for the lesser kingdom of politics. To try to usher in the kingdom through political gains and through our candidate who we think will do it best. Why? Why would we trade the kingdom of God for four years? That is a very bad exchange, folks. Others of us are tempted to go for the lesser kingdom of accolades and approval. And this is a brutal master, never happy. You always need more accolades, more approval, more, more, more. What is it for you? What is the lesser kingdom that you're tempted to settle for, to shortcut when you get impatient?

And again, I get it. We grow weary of being patient. We grow weary of waiting. We grow weary of seeing, of experiencing the brokenness that's in this world. I know that ache. Everybody in this room knows that longing, that ache. And you know what? I think that's a good sign. I think that ache, that longing for justice, for brokenness to be made whole, for people to be healed and made whole, I think that that is part of being an image bearer of God. We wanna see wrongs made right. So does God. And he will do it. One day. But what do we do in the meantime? What do we do with this ache, with this longing to see God's kingdom come in all of its glory? I have more good news.

Even in the weight, even in the weight, the kingdom of God calls us third to participate. To participate in the kingdom of God right now. This is the now. A few weeks ago I had the joy of speaking at Vintage Faith Church. And if you've ever been, it's over in Santa Cruz, if you've ever been to Vintage Faith, you know at the front of the church, they have this giant map of our county, and it says on earth as it is in heaven, and then it has all these birds representing people flying out of the church and into the community. And I think this is such a great visual of this point of participation. We move in ways in our county, in our country, in our families, in our relationships, we move in ways that reflect the kingdom of God, that reflect kingdom of God choices, attitudes, and actions that reflect our king and our God.

We participate in on earth as it is in heaven. We get to participate in on earth as it is in heaven, when we make choices like letting our light shine, so that people will finally be able to see God and glorify our Father in heaven. It's a kingdom choice to love your enemies, and to pray for those who persecute you. It is a kingdom choice to seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. The Bible is full of kingdom choices that we can make right now. It even says if you give a cup of cold water to somebody, that's a kingdom choice. That's an on earth as it is in heaven action. In the brokenness of this world, and even in the brokenness that we experience personally, we are not stuck. We get to participate now in your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

We get to participate now in doing as John Ortberg says, bringing up there down here. This is our purpose in all seasons of life. Question answered, this is the answer to the question everybody. Question answered, your purpose every single day is to make choices, engage in actions, think thoughts that are kingdom choices, kingdom actions, kingdom thoughts, wherever God has placed you. And the great news about this is you don't have to go to a certain school to do this. You don't have to be a certain age to do this. Are you a middle schooler or a high schooler? In college, your purpose is on earth as it is in heaven choices. Are you driving over the hill to some tech job over the hill? Your purpose is on earth as it is in heaven choices.

Are you chasing toddlers and kids around and running everywhere? Your purpose, keep them alive, that's a good purpose, but also your purpose is on earth as it is in heaven. Choices, are you starting to feel your world getting smaller or feeling isolated as you get older? Your purpose remains on earth as it is in heaven choices. On earth as it is in heaven. This is the greatest invitation of a lifetime. Every time you choose the Jesus way, glimmers of the kingdom shine through to the people around you. Every time you choose to not judge, every time you choose to be a peacemaker, to be merciful, you are literally a part of the answer to this prayer. And you won't do it perfectly, I don't do it perfectly, nobody does it perfectly, but don't let that stop you.

You will feel overwhelmed. Sometimes we do feel overwhelmed by all the brokenness. It doesn't mean you failed because you feel overwhelmed. It's just a reminder that we're not home yet. It's just a reminder that we can't do it all. We don't have the power to do it all. God knows that. But in his mercy and in his love, he still invites us in. He invites us to relocate ourselves from the kingdom of me and to participate with him in bringing on earth as it is in heaven. And though you and I cannot fix it all, we know the one who can. And he will. He will fix it all. And guess what? He loves you. He is your father. He loves you so much. He wants a relationship with you. He wants to give your life purpose.

It may be a cup of cold water, but in his kingdom, that cup of cold water has purpose. You are loved. You are loved by the king of the universe. And it's this love that is what fuels our participation. This love that God has for us is what empowers us to live out this verse. When we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're confessing in that prayer. We're waiting for a better kingdom. We're saying, I don't want the kingdom of me. I choose your kingdom, God. When we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are saying, I'll wait. I'll wait, God. And I will trust that you will do everything that you have promised in your word that you will do.

When we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are saying, sign me up, God. Let's get this party started now. And we are saying, I will make choices that help bring up there down here on earth as it is in heaven. I encourage you to make this your prayer this week. When you go home and maybe turn on the news, make this your prayer. Your kingdom come, your will be done. When you are tempted to worry, to fix, to control, to settle for whatever lesser kingdom, make this your prayer. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When you're in conflict in a relationship this week, pray, Lord, I don't wanna live in the kingdom of me. Help me live on earth as it is in heaven in this relationship. Oh, God, may your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Thank you that you have given us hope. Thank you that in this verse you have given us purpose, even in the brokenness of this life. Thank you for inviting us to be part of your kingdom, God. And today, Lord, I wanna pray for the person who has maybe never taken that first step to say, you are my king, you are my God. Lord, I pray that now you would work on their heart, that you would soften their heart, that they would want to say, Lord, you are my king, you are my Father in heaven. I turn away from my sinful choices and I ask you to save me, to bring me into your kingdom.

And God, today, for the person who maybe has been at this for a while, and they're just feeling blah or nothing, God, may you reeve, invigorate us with the joy, the purpose, the perspective of your kingdom. May you light that fire in our hearts again. May you remind us of your intense, amazing love for us and may we be motivated by that. And Lord, we are all feeling the brokenness of this world today. We are all feeling the ache for restoration in the middle of just, utter political chaos. And God, we pray for the people who were injured yesterday for President Trump and the others. We pray for the families who are grieving the loss of someone today. Lord, we pray that you, your kingdom would come. Your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And God, we pray that you would start with us, that you would start with us. In Jesus' name, amen.