C, Midweek Lent 3 - The Lord's Prayer #4 - Matthew 6:10a,13a "Lead us into Your Coming Kingdom"

Matthew 6:10a,13a   Your kingdom come … Lead us not into temptation.

After our Father in heaven has shown us his holiness, made us holy, and sent us back out into his world, having been made holy by the blood of Jesus, we go with the promise that God’s kingdom is coming. 

What a beautiful promise we have, despite all the transient kingdoms of this world, an eternal imperishable kingdom that’s coming by God’s gracious mercy and will, to all who believe in him.

In actual fact, his kingdom has already come to us, it is coming to us, and it will come to us as promised. 

Our Father’s heavenly kingdom has come to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  His kingdom has come to us, through the water and the word of our baptism into Christ the King’s death and resurrection.

The kingdom daily comes to us through the word of God as the Holy Spirit deposits the kingdom within us and guards it for Jesus’ and our sake.  And because we have received the kingdom by the work of Jesus at the cross, and the work of the Holy Spirit bringing us to Jesus, we can call on our Father, just like a little child runs with open trusting arms, to his or her daddy.

Because the kingdom of God is with us, in us, and eternally around us, we can tell our Father all things with which we need help, both good and bad.  We have no need of fear of rejection when we confess to him all our failures, looking for forgiveness for all disasters we have brought on ourselves and others.

The kingdom of God will also come to us in the future.  We live with the promise that God’s kingdom is coming, despite having to travel the way of death, as a result of sin.  But the promise for us, is that the death we will experience, won’t be a death of eternal separation from God, but one in which we will be transformed into holy heavenly beings. 

What that is we do not exactly know.  But we wait with eager expectations knowing that the old, will be done away with and finished.  We will see Jesus in all his glory, and we will see ourselves for whom God originally intended us to be.  You will see the new you, that which for now, God has hidden within the sinfulness of your human flesh.  All who have died trusting in Christ will see their completion in Christ, which even now the Holy Spirit is depositing within.

Our Father’s kingdom is holy.  He is holy in his kingdom.  We are made holy for his kingdom, we are being made holy for his kingdom, and we will be made holy for his kingdom.  At this point in time, we know and live in holiness by faith, and in hope we look forward to our holiness being revealed, once our earthly death strips us of our sinful nature.

Coupled within the Lord’s prayer, place alongside the promise of the heavenly Father’s coming kingdom, is the plea for us not to be led into temptation.  These temptations are temptations to seek, find, or build for ourselves different kingdoms as well as being deceived into believing God’s kingdom is not for us, or not coming for us.

The petitions, “your kingdom come” and, “lead us not into temptation”, are petitions for the working week. 

As we go to work on Monday we pray “your kingdom come”.  We go to work each new week with the will, not to work for ourselves a contrary kingdom, to the kingdom of God.   But we go bearing the kingdom of God, so others might see something different in us, and we might be given the opportunity to be the conduit, through which God’s kingdom can come to them.

But we also go, knowing because God is giving us his kingdom,  he also sends the Holy Spirit with us, to lead us.  We go out from God’s house each week with faith.  Not our faith!  But faith given by the Holy Spirit, faith in Jesus Christ having been raised from the dead, who now sits at the right hand of God the Father in his kingdom.  This faith comes from hearing the word of God.  Therefore, the kingdom also comes when we hear the word of God!

We go out into the kingdoms of this world knowing, like Jesus, we will encounter many trials and temptations.  But as we go, we do so, praying for him to lead us.  We are being led out from God’s house in faith, knowing our destination is back in God’s house next week, where we once again will be rested and restored, fed, and forgiven.

There is a temptation that God’s kingdom is not coming which lead many to live a fast life of working for the weekend.  This kingdom usually ends in hangover, but worse it also leads to fatalism, violence both sexual and physical, depression, self-destruction, community chaos, emptiness, and hopelessness.

The faith with which we go out, is also intertwined with hope, because of the father’s love for us.  Faith gives us the means to live with Christ in our day to day lives.  Likewise, hope helps us to die with Jesus, in our day to day lives. 

When there is no hope in Jesus, humanity is ultimately overcome with the hopelessness of death.  But the sinful self, seeks to trust in its own blind principles, and impotent powers.  The old Adam is constantly wooed and seduced by the powers and principles of the world.  Behind this is the devil with all his powers and principalities.

So, when God seeks to kill things in us like pride, self-righteousness, vain glory from our goodness, lust, jealousy, hatred, greed, and other passions of the flesh, the old Adam within, the human spirit, fights against God killing these things. 

The old Adam is overcome by temptations of the things God seeks to kill within us.  Through enticement by the world, and the devil, the old Adam is led to choose kingdoms of its own doing, while rejecting the one holy kingdom of God.

However, all contrary kingdoms to God’s coming kingdom, are houses of cards.  They are thinly veiled kingdoms of hopelessness.  But the devil knows, if he keeps us in the darkness of this deception, our hopelessness will become eternal.  Our hope in false kings and fake kingdoms will take us to death but not through it!

For us, though, we go out into the kingdoms of this world in faith, bearing Christ to a world that’s losing its hope.  You and I are a “faithful presence” of God’s kingdom coming to those who need God’s kingdom, but for whatever reason are not receiving it. 

We are those who are being led from temptation, into repentance, through forgiveness, and into the coming kingdom.  We are witnesses of weakness, demonstrating the hope we have, through the daily deaths we suffer, where we allow ourselves to die, day by day, for Jesus to live in us, and through us.

We endure deaths like, aging, loss of abilities and confidences, bearing of false witness against us, slander, bullying, rejection, loss of property, depression, and destitution.  We also suffer when we recognise the poverty of our spirit, so we can confess our sin.  All kingdoms must die so we can see God’s kingdom coming in all its power and glory.

Finally, our physical death comes too.  But this is the final glorious coming of the Father’s kingdom for those who have allowed the Holy Spirit to drown them in the death of Jesus Christ and raise them to a new life in Jesus Christ’s resurrection over death. 

Faith will lead us out into this last week here on earth, just like all the other weeks.  However, this week will end, once and for all, having had our faith and hope realised when we open our eyes to the eternal house of God the Father, and see Jesus seated at his right hand.  We will see God’s glory streaming with pure unadulterated love, from the throne of his kingdom having come.

Then we will worship forever, that our Father’s kingdom has come, and we have been led by the Lamb of God and the Holy Spirit, into the power and glory of our Father’s kingdom.  A kingdom of eternal peace, joy, and love.  Amen.

Next week we hear our Father’s will in heaven is to forgive us our sins, and we will hear how he does this and continues to do this.