Prayer as Kingdom Partnership

We can see God’s Kingdom throughout His story. The Church, made up of followers of Christ, is God’s Kingdom. Are we praying for opportunities to be His Kingdom in our communities?

Transcript

We don’t really understand what a kingdom is. There’s nothing in our modern world that is equivalent to the ancient idea of a kingdom. Now, we can have ideas.

• Some games have the goal of building a kingdom: Minecraft, Catan, even the classic Risk.

• Sports dynasties are kinda like kingdoms: Boston Celtics, New England Patriots, or the Chicago Bulls in the 90s. They even had their own king Michael.

• And, of course, the Empire has been trying to build their kingdom for almost 50 years. “If only you knew the power of the dark side.”

Star Wars aside, kingdom is a foreign concept to us. That’s what makes this line of the Lord’s Prayer difficult: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) This sounds great, but what does it really mean?

SERIES OVERVIEW

We’re in the second week of our series, 40 Days of Prayer. Each week, we’re diving deep into one line of the Lord’s Prayer.

Last week, we talked about Prayer as Worship with the first line, “Our Father in heaven, holy be your name…” This is a worship-filled line, reminding us that God is personal like a Father, otherworldly like heaven, and completely different from us like holy.

This week, we’re going to look at the second line of the Lord’s Prayer with the theme of Prayer as Kingdom Participation. What does it mean to participate with God for his Kingdom? Well, here’s a short video from Tim Crouch, the Alliance VP of Missions, to introduce it.

“KINGDOM”

Before we can talk about kingdom partnership, we have to understand God’s kingdom. When you recite, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” do you know what you’re saying?

Theologians often describe kingdom as “God’s rule and reign.” While that’s accurate, it’s not very helpful because we’re defining one unfamiliar term with two more unfamiliar terms.

The Lord’s Prayer gives us another way to think about it. Do you see the parallel between “kingdom” and “will”? God’s kingdom is where God’s will always happens. In heaven, God’s will always happens. That’s because he rules and reigns there. Or, as the video said, “God’s kingdom is where what God wants done is done.”

In heaven, God’s will always happens. On earth, not so much. Earth is filled with… well, us. It’s full of our selfishness, pride, anger—in a word, sin. It’s also filled with Satan and evil spirits hell-bent on a strategy of steal, kill, and destroy.

So, God’s will doesn’t always happen in our world, in our communities, or even in our own lives.

“ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN”

That’s where this line from the Lord’s Prayer comes in: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

In heaven, God’s will always happens. On earth, not so much. This prayer is saying, “Let what happens all the time in heaven happen more of the time on earth.”

This prayer transforms the abstract idea of God’s will into something more practical—God in action. In fact, theologian Dallas Willard said, “The Kingdom is God in action… it is the idea of an all-loving and all-powerful God who is in action for us and with us. He is not passive. He is not distant. He is not indifferent.”

This prayer is the link between God in action and the Church in action. Between God’s sovereignty and humanity’s responsibility. Between God’s Kingdom and you.

When you pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” you join your will to God’s will. You submit yourself to God. You submit your will, your desires, and your kingdom to God’s will, God’s desires, and God’s kingdom. That’s the power behind this prayer.

PARABLES

So, what does it actually look like to partner with God in building his kingdom? That’s where we turn to the set of parables in Matthew 13 that we read earlier.

There are eight parables in this passage, all of which speak about the kingdom of heaven.

1. Seeds & soils

2. Wheat & weeds

3. Mustard seed

4. Yeast

5. Hidden treasure

6. Expensive pearl

7. Fishing net

8. Owner of a house

These parables can be grouped into 4 different themes:

• Bearing fruit

• The judgment of good and bad things

• Things that are tiny now but huge later

• Things of high value

If you’re counting, there’s one missing: the owner of the house. We’ll talk about that at the end.

Each one of these themes sheds light on the prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,”

First, God’s Kingdom is… about bearing fruit.

Jesus begins with a parable about a farmer planting seeds, but only a quarter of them produced any crops. Some seeds got eaten by birds, didn’t grow strong roots, or were choked out by weeds. Only the seeds that landed in good soil produced a crop, and it was a huge one, multiplying up to 100-fold.

So, what’s the secret to being fruitful in good soil? Jesus answers it. “23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

God’s Kingdom is… about bearing fruit. This parable teaches that there are all kinds of things that can prevent you from bearing kingdom fruit—a hard heart, a shallow faith, worries, and wealth, to name a few. But when you have a kingdom mindset, you will bear fruit.

Second, God’s Kingdom… leaves judgment to God.

Jesus tells two parables that teach this message.

• First, a wheat field that got filled with weeds. The workers were going to pull up the weeds, but the farmer said, “Nah, we’ll separate them at the harvest.”

• Second, some fishermen who caught a bunch of good and bad fish in their nets. And the lead guy said, “Don’t worry, we’ll sort them out back at the shore.”

And Jesus explains that this is what it will be like in the final judgment. God will separate the wicked from the righteous because only He knows the human heart and can see true faith.

What does this mean for us? We act and leave the results to God in the end. It’s not our place to determine who’s in and who’s out or who to love and who to condemn. We serve everybody. We love everybody.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done.” The Lord’s Prayer challenges us to be patient and trust God for the future. We love and serve everybody now and leave judgment to God.

Next up, God’s Kingdom is… tiny now but huge later

• The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds but the largest of plants, even becoming a tree.

• You only need a little bit of yeast mixed into a lot of dough, and it causes all the dough to rise.

This one’s easier to understand. A lot of you have helped your parents in the garden, and you’ve planted little seeds that have produced cucumbers the size of my thighs. Or if you’ve ever baked with yeast, you know that you only need a little. If you haven’t, it’s kinda like hwj txob, Hmong pepper. A little goes a long way, especially the way Pang Foua makes it.

Today, the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed and yeast—small, hidden, insignificant, even invisible. But in the future, the presence and power of the kingdom will be enormous. The true influence of the kingdom will be beyond expectations.

The same can be said for partnering with God in building his kingdom. You may never see the effects of the small kingdom things you do for others, but their impact can be huge.

The last set of parables shows us that God’s Kingdom is…of high value.

Jesus told of a man who found a treasure hidden in a field and of a merchant who found an expensive pearl. Here were their reactions: “44 When he found [the treasure], he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field… 46 When he found [the pearl] of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

I’ve never found buried treasure before, but I have found a crumpled-up $20 in my jeans before, and that’s pretty awesome.

Imagine seeing something as so valuable, so incredible that you would give up anything, sell anything, or do anything just to get it. That’s the kingdom of God.

These parables contrast with the previous ones. The weeds, fish, mustard seed, and yeast all focus on a future time, but these parables emphasize the present value of God’s kingdom today right now.

The kingdom of God is of immeasurably great value. It is worth all you have and more.

APPLICATION

So, how do you know if you’re partnering with God to bring more of his kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven?

Let me help you answer that with a quote from Rob Reimer in his book Soul Care:

“The central message of Jesus is about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the reversal of everything that went wrong when sin entered the world. It is the restoration of everything back to the way God intended it to be. So, when Jesus came, He saved the lost, healed the sick, cast out demons, helped the poor, overcame injustice, and set the captives free. This is because broken relationships, sickness, death, spiritual bondage (demonization), poverty, and oppression were not part of God’s creation. They were effects of the fall. These diabolical issues will not be part of Heaven. Therefore, our central role as Christ-followers is to advance his kingdom.”

Are you doing any of those? Then you’re partnering in building God’s kingdom.

But you might be thinking, “Well, no. I’m not some famous activists like Martin Luther King, Greta Thunberg, or Khloe Kardashian. I’m just a normal person.” Remember the mustard seed and the yeast. You can be small and yet have a tremendous impact when you’re kingdom minded.

Or you’re thinking, “I won’t really make a difference.” Remember the seeds. You just have to be good soil, have a soft heart. Listen for God’s word and for his voice and understand them. And he’ll multiply your impact. It won’t be you.

Or you might be thinking, “I don’t know what to do or who to help.” That’s okay. Remember wheat and weeds and the good and bad fish. Do anything. Serve anybody. Leave the judgment to God in the end.

Or maybe you’re thinking, “I just don’t think it’s worth all the work, risk, and heartache.” Remember the hidden treasure and the pearl. God’s kingdom is immensely valuable. It’s worth everything.

CONCLUSION

You might remember from earlier that there’s one more parable I haven’t talked about. And it’s the culmination of this section. “52 Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.’”

That parable isn’t just about the kingdom. It’s about you. When you become a disciple of the kingdom, you become a gift-giver to the world. You bring out treasures old and new… to your friends, neighbors, and family members. Our world is desperate for people who give treasures to others instead of hording treasures for themselves.

And you can be that person. You can be that kingdom gift-giver. All you have to pray is, “God, let your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And show me how to be a part of it.”

PRAYER REFLECTION

I want to give you a few minutes to pray that prayer and listen for God’s voice. I want you to prayer this prayer 10 times, “Let your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” And pause after each one to listen to God.

I have two goals for this exercise:

1. To align your heart with God’s kingdom. That’s why the repetition.

2. To give you time and space to hear God’s kingdom calling on your life. That’s why the pauses.

After a while, I’ll pray to close.