- Matthew 6:7-15 - read this passage online here »
- Psalm 119:1-8 - read this passage online here »
There are a variety of reasons why people do not want to be followers of Jesus. There are also various reasons why people leave the Christian faith. Here is one reason. Drew Dyck is a Canadian born author whose most recent book is titled Generation Ex-Christian. It is about younger Christians leaving the faith. He tells about one interview with a young man who left to join the Wicca religion. Dyck wrote:
Mary, the mother of Jesus, understood the personal significance of praying “Thy will be done” at the beginning of Jesus’ life. And Jesus knew the personal significance of these words when he prayed them at the end of his life on Earth.
Before Jesus was born, young Mary had a conversation with the angel Gabriel who told her she would “become pregnant and give birth to a son,” whom she would name Jesus. Mary was understandably perplexed because she was not involved sexually with anyone, not even with Joseph to whom she was engaged. Gabriel told her not to be afraid and added: “[Jesus] will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33, NRSV).
I like how Eugene Peterson describes the interaction between Gabriel and Mary in his book Tell It Slant [Eerdmans, 2008; p. 178]:
Thirty-three years later, as Jesus wrestled with God in the Garden of Gethsemane in the certain knowledge he was about to suffer a horrible death, Jesus prayed: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42, NRSV). And the will of God was done in Jesus’ life. Jesus gave up his life on the cross and, three days later, he became the resurrected Lord of the Kingdom. Jesus’ life – from beginning to end on this Earth and beyond this life – is framed with the intent “Thy will be done!”
When Jesus teaches us to pray, he wants us to start with “thy” and not with “us.” Did you notice, we are not even mentioned in the first petitions to the Father? Except, Jesus does want us to know his Father is also our heavenly Father. That is radical and remarkable because you and I -- through Jesus -- are connected to God when we pray. We are in this Christian life together with Jesus as we pray to “Our Father.”
Jesus starts the prayer with the pronoun thy or your: May your name be honoured, may your kingdom come, may your will be done. When we pray this way, we are deeply involving ourselves in wanting God’s ways of working done on this Earth – by honouring God’s holy name, by intentionally calling for God’s kingdom to come and by desiring God’s will for the entire Earth to be done as it is in heaven.
But, then, halfway through his prayer, Jesus changes the pronoun to us. When we pray “Our Father in heaven, may your name be honoured, may your kingdom come and may your will be done,” our prayer involves us deeply with God’s purposes: “Your will be done.” But then we continue to pray: “Give us today the food we need. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. Do not bring us to hard testing but keep us safe from the Evil One.” Our prayer now involves God deeply with us -- in life-changing ways in all the details of our lives. (But these details are for later messages.)
The movement in the Lord’s Prayer from your will – being all about God’s will -- to being all about our needs is another way of expressing our intimate and personal connection with Jesus’ Father who is also our Father. As I noted last week, Jesus is teaching us to be real and honest and open with God. Let me remind you how The Message Bible in Matthew 6:7-9 introduces Jesus’ teaching on how to pray:
So what is the will of God? If we take the context of where Jesus is telling his disciples how to pray, it is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, which encompasses Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7. So when we listen to Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, we can hear the will – the intention -- of God.
Here are only a few things Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount that reveal God’s intention for us:
When Jesus teaches us – his followers -- to pray, do we not recognize Jesus is the primary connection between our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger? When we pray “Thy will be done,” Jesus is the One – through the Holy Spirit -- who causes us to acknowledge that the Father’s purposes will be done in whatever way God chooses to accomplish them. And so we pray that God, in his wisdom and love, will let us work with him to do his will. Someone has said: “I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help him. I ended up asking him to do his work through me.”
Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian who lived in the first half of the 18th century. I thought his brief prayer was appropriate for our Prayer of Approach:
Rev. Chris Miller
January 23, 2011
“Morninghawk Apollo (who renamed himself as is common in Wiccan practice) discussed his rejection of Christianity with candour. ‘Ultimately why I left is that the Christian God demands that you submit to his will. In Wicca, it's just the other way around. Your will is paramount. We believe in gods and goddesses, but the deities we choose to serve are based on our wills.’” [Drew Dyck, “The Leavers,” Christianity Today (November, 2010), p. 43; excerpted from Generation Ex-Christian, Moody, 2010]C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, wrote:
“There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.'”When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1), Jesus told them to pray: “Our Father in heaven, may your holy name be honoured; may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Or, with the words we have known for so many years and often use, “Thy will be done.”
Mary, the mother of Jesus, understood the personal significance of praying “Thy will be done” at the beginning of Jesus’ life. And Jesus knew the personal significance of these words when he prayed them at the end of his life on Earth.
Before Jesus was born, young Mary had a conversation with the angel Gabriel who told her she would “become pregnant and give birth to a son,” whom she would name Jesus. Mary was understandably perplexed because she was not involved sexually with anyone, not even with Joseph to whom she was engaged. Gabriel told her not to be afraid and added: “[Jesus] will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33, NRSV).
I like how Eugene Peterson describes the interaction between Gabriel and Mary in his book Tell It Slant [Eerdmans, 2008; p. 178]:
“Angel or no angel, Gabriel obviously doesn’t know the facts of life. Mary fills him in, telling him that she is a virgin. But Mary doesn’t know the facts of the kingdom. Gabriel fills her in: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you….” As sure as she is of the ‘facts of life,’ Mary doesn’t insist. She opens herself to Gabriel’s King and kingdom announcement and prays, in effect, Thy will be done: ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord ... let it be to me according to your word’ (Luke 1:38, RSV).Mary had the choice –as we all have the choice – to go along with God’s will or not. Mary could have refused to allow the Holy Spirit to be involved in her life in this way because of the potential for ridicule and real trouble. Then God would have found someone else. But she did not refuse. “Let it be to me, according to your word,” she said. And the will of God was done in Mary’s life.
Thirty-three years later, as Jesus wrestled with God in the Garden of Gethsemane in the certain knowledge he was about to suffer a horrible death, Jesus prayed: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42, NRSV). And the will of God was done in Jesus’ life. Jesus gave up his life on the cross and, three days later, he became the resurrected Lord of the Kingdom. Jesus’ life – from beginning to end on this Earth and beyond this life – is framed with the intent “Thy will be done!”
When Jesus teaches us to pray, he wants us to start with “thy” and not with “us.” Did you notice, we are not even mentioned in the first petitions to the Father? Except, Jesus does want us to know his Father is also our heavenly Father. That is radical and remarkable because you and I -- through Jesus -- are connected to God when we pray. We are in this Christian life together with Jesus as we pray to “Our Father.”
Jesus starts the prayer with the pronoun thy or your: May your name be honoured, may your kingdom come, may your will be done. When we pray this way, we are deeply involving ourselves in wanting God’s ways of working done on this Earth – by honouring God’s holy name, by intentionally calling for God’s kingdom to come and by desiring God’s will for the entire Earth to be done as it is in heaven.
But, then, halfway through his prayer, Jesus changes the pronoun to us. When we pray “Our Father in heaven, may your name be honoured, may your kingdom come and may your will be done,” our prayer involves us deeply with God’s purposes: “Your will be done.” But then we continue to pray: “Give us today the food we need. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. Do not bring us to hard testing but keep us safe from the Evil One.” Our prayer now involves God deeply with us -- in life-changing ways in all the details of our lives. (But these details are for later messages.)
The movement in the Lord’s Prayer from your will – being all about God’s will -- to being all about our needs is another way of expressing our intimate and personal connection with Jesus’ Father who is also our Father. As I noted last week, Jesus is teaching us to be real and honest and open with God. Let me remind you how The Message Bible in Matthew 6:7-9 introduces Jesus’ teaching on how to pray:
“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven … ”What Jesus wants us to realize is that our connection with God is not a prayer formula or a prayer technique. Our connection with God is meant to be a relationship with God the Father who knows better than we do what we need and who loves us. Therefore, we pray with a sense of person-to-person intimacy, love and joy.
So what is the will of God? If we take the context of where Jesus is telling his disciples how to pray, it is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, which encompasses Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7. So when we listen to Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, we can hear the will – the intention -- of God.
Here are only a few things Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount that reveal God’s intention for us:
- There are the Beatitudes. Jesus says those who are poor in spirit and those who are merciful to others will be blessed. Those who mourn will be comforted. Those who work for peace will be called God’s children. And those who are persecuted for doing what God requires will find the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
- Jesus says God’s intention is that his people be like life-enhancing salt giving extra flavour to society and preserving what is good in society and in the culture. God intends the witness of his people to be like goodness-enhancing light so that others will see the good things God’s people do and give praise to God.
- Jesus says God’s intention is that we have deep respect for all people and even love for our enemies.
- Jesus tells us to stock-pile treasures that last in heaven rather than the fleeting treasures here on Earth for “our heart will always be where our riches are.”
- Jesus calls us to be concerned, above everything else, with the Kingdom of God and with what God requires of us and not to be obsessed about where our food and clothes will come from.
- Jesus constantly reminds us to trust God. He also says that those who listen to what he says and put what he says into practice are wise because this is like building a house on solid rock that can withstand the storms of life. Not to trust him and put what he says into practice is like building our lives on sand. When the storms of life come, we are guaranteed to fall apart.
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.”“The place God calls you to”: Is that not the will of God? Think of what this statement might mean for Jesus and for us. When Jesus teaches us how to pray, do we not sense in our spirits that Jesus’ “deep gladness” is to hallow or honour the holy name of his Father? To pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom? To do the will of his Father? When Jesus teaches us how to pray, do we not also sense “the world’s deep hunger” is that their daily needs be met – needs of body, mind, emotions and spirit? Is not the world’s deep hunger also to know their sins are forgiven -- and to be able to forgive those who have wronged them? Is the world’s deep hunger not also to know that God “will not allow [them] to be tested beyond [their] power to remain firm…. [And] at the time [they] are put to the test, [God] will give [them] the strength to endure it, and so provide [them] with a way out.” (You will find that last statement in 1 Corinthians 10:13.)
When Jesus teaches us – his followers -- to pray, do we not recognize Jesus is the primary connection between our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger? When we pray “Thy will be done,” Jesus is the One – through the Holy Spirit -- who causes us to acknowledge that the Father’s purposes will be done in whatever way God chooses to accomplish them. And so we pray that God, in his wisdom and love, will let us work with him to do his will. Someone has said: “I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help him. I ended up asking him to do his work through me.”
God’s will is down-to-earth yet planned in heaven. Jesus prayed that God’s will be done “on Earth as it is heaven.” When we pray thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven, we are saying God is not only in heaven but also at work here on Earth where we are – where we live and work and play and laugh and cry and love and hurt. When we pray “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven,” we are acknowledging, as Eugene Peterson expresses it [Tell It Slant, Eerdmans, 2008; p. 180]:“God is at work in creation, in salvation, in blessing – on Earth. He is at work in our homes and workplaces, in our governments and schools, in our prisons and churches, in ships at sea and automobiles on highways, among the hungry and poor, among the newborn and the dying. Make your own list. Insert your own names. And then pray them.”
Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian who lived in the first half of the 18th century. I thought his brief prayer was appropriate for our Prayer of Approach:
“Father in heaven, now draw our hearts to you that our hearts may be where our treasures ought to be, that our minds and thoughts may look to your kingdom, whose citizens we are.”Kierkegaard also wrote about human nature and how complex we human beings really are. But Kierkegaard was a disciple of Jesus and knew the difference between being merely an admirer and being a follower or disciple of Jesus. He wrote:
“If you have any knowledge at all of human nature, you know that those who only admire the truth will, when danger appears, become traitors. The admirer is infatuated with the false security of greatness; but if there is any inconvenience or trouble, he pulls back. Admiring the truth, instead of following it, is just as dubious a fire as the fire of erotic love, which at the turn of the hand can be changed into exactly the opposite -- to hate, jealousy, and revenge. Christ, however, never asked for admirers, worshipers, or adherents. He consistently spoke of ‘followers and ‘disciples.’”May each of us consider not merely admiring Jesus but following him intentionally. May each of us also consider not my will but thy will be done. May this be so for you and for me.
Rev. Chris Miller
January 23, 2011
OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto
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