The Bethany Bullet-January 27, 2009

Teach us to Pray series, Sermon II:
“Thy Kingdom Come”

Jesus has come to topple tyrants. We as Americans are familiar with tyrant toppling. Our founding generation, our greatest generation, and our latest generation have all done so. Of course, Jesus’ fellow countrymen had not been so successful at tyrant toppling but they longed for such when Jesus spoke these words. They wanted the shackles of Rome removed and the rule of the house of David restored.

Yet, when Jesus teaches us to pray for a coming kingdom He is thinking of something different than what His countrymen and our country have experienced in the realm of tyranny.

Jesus has come to topple tyrants, the Prince of this world who now stands condemned. Jesus has come to topple tyrants, including the ones reading this Bethany Bullet. By nature we are prone to fight for authority, power, and control. This inborn sin is so strong that Martin Luther once said, “If possible we would push God off the throne and take his place.”

Jesus has come to topple tyrants, like you and me, but does so in the most unfathomable of ways. Rather than kick us out of the kingdom He exiles Himself from His Father’s presence on the cross that we might become citizens of the kingdom of heaven. That kingdom is present now, for it is manifested through Jesus. Yet, that kingdom is still to come, in final and complete authority at the end of time.

This tension, this present kingdom yet coming, is what commentators call the “Now Not Yet” of the Christian life. Even know God’s kingdom is here, even now sin, death, and hell are vanquished. However, we do not yet experience the fullness of this kingdom, we still face temptation, we still commit transgression and we will enter the tomb, YET, Christ is King and He is reigning in our midst and lives.

When we pray that the kingdom come, we are praying for two things at the same time:

1. That Jesus return in power, every knee bow, and every tongue confess he is Lord.
2. That His reign and rule be manifested through our lives of humble obedience to the King.

In his catechism, Martin Luther says just that, “How does God’s kingdom come? It comes when the heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit so that by his grace we may believe his holy Word and live a godly life, both here in time and hereafter forever.”