(This message may be used as an individual sermon or as part of the series.)
Matthew 6:13 – THINE IS THE KINGDOM
Part #8 of 8 on The Lord’s Prayer
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?