Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Praying for the Advance of God's Kingdom

Tonight our focus in prayer will be on the advance of God's kingdom.

Again, when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He emphasized that the Name of His Father would be hallowed, that is, revered as holy and glorious and awesome and mighty.

But HOW does this come about, and WHAT does it look like?

The answer is given in the next lines in the text:
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name
     Your kingdom come,
     Your will be done,
         on earth as in heaven."
This is likely what we call "synthetic Hebrew parallelism." Synthetic carries the idea of "addition", and so the two parallel lines add, or explain, or unpack, what Jesus meant in the first line (i.e. our prayer for the Father's name to be hallowed).

So the answer to the 'how' question is this: the Father's name is hallowed as His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. And His will is done on earth as in heaven as His kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.

Many theologians, in attempting to find the central theme of the Bible, have concluded that God's kingdom is the overarching, all-encompassing, unifying theme that ties the entire 66 books of the Bible together. 

Though I would tweak this by adding that Christ is the "center" and central theme of the Scriptures, I don't hesitate to affirm the importance of God's kingdom, since the eternal plan of our triune God was to establish the kingdom in and through and by Christ (for e.g. see 1 Cor. 15:20-28; Eph. 1:10, Col. 1:15-20, Heb. 2:5-10; Rev. 4-5, etc.).

In the Old Testament, God's kingdom was to come originally through Adam as he multiplied "offspring" and filled the earth with God's image-bearers (Gen. 1-2). He failed (see Gen. 3).

Then others, such as Noah, were to establish God's kingdom on earth (note the repetition of Gen. 1-2 language in Gen. 9). But he, like Adam, failed.

In Gen. 12, after the Tower of Babel debacle, the hope of the world is placed upon the shoulders of a man named Abraham. Through him, God would finally and fully establish His kingdom and rule on earth, as He rules and reigns in heaven (see Gal. 3:16). 

But Abraham, as a sinner, inevitably fails, and thus the hope of a renewed world is passed on to Isaac, and then Jacob, and then Israel.

All of these "sons of Adam" eventually and ultimately fail to establish God's reign and kingdom on earth.

Until Jesus comes. Long story short, Jesus the Messiah does what no other had or could do: perfectly bear God's image in the world (see Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3) and thus establish His reign on earth.

This came about in a most surprising and unexpected way: not through military conquest or some kind of religious 'jihad,' but rather through His death and resurrection from the dead (see 1 Cor. 15).

And now, as the true Son of God (see Rom. 1:3-4; cf. Luke 3:38) and second Adam, He, in obedience to the will of His Father, is filling the earth with His image-bearers (see 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:22-24), a new creation that will one day inhabit a new heavens and new earth, where God, in Christ, will rule perfectly, for the heavens and earth will have become one (Rev. 21-22).

But until then, the Son is accomplishing His mission through the church, the assembly of His image-bearers.

And the church accomplishes this mission as we replicate, or image, Christ on earth, as He imaged His Father on earth. 

We do so by "imitating" Christ, and walking in Spirit-empowered love (Eph. 5:1). Or, in the words of the apostle John, we walk as that One (i.e. Christ) walked" (1 John 2:6). 

This means we too come, meekly and boldly, proclaiming the gospel of God, both in word and deed (Acts 10:36). This means we too live a life of sacrifice, going about doing good (Acts 10:38; Gal. 6:10). By doing so, we show the world how God reigns in Christ.

And so, let us pray for the church, for she is God's ordained means of demonstrating and declaring His wisdom in and to the heavens and earth (Eph. 3:10-11). It is through the church that God has determined to "sum up all things under the headship of Christ" (Eph. 1:10, my translation).

And so, let us (we must!) pray that through the church, God will fill His creation with image-bearers, who are born-again (lit. "from above" [i.e. heaven]) on earth to live as citizens of heaven on earth (cf. Phil. 1:27).

This happens as the church goes about spreading and sowing the good news of the kingdom wherever she goes (cf. Matt. 13; 28:18-20), as God has ordained the Word to be the instrument by which He builds His "host" and saves the elect He entrusted to the Son before time even began (John 10; 17).

This also happens as the church goes about spreading and sowing the fragrance of Christ in deed (e.g. Rev. 19:8), that others may see Christ in us, the hope of glory, and may give glory to our Father in heaven (cf. Matt. 5:13-16).

And so, let us (we must!) pray for the advance of the [true] church. Pray for her doctrinal purity. Pray for her spiritual unity. Pray for her protection. Pray against complacency and lukewarmness. Pray against worldliness.

And so, let us (we must!) pray for missions, both near and far. Pray for local churches to cross the street to preach and portray Christ as crucified to her neighbors. Pray for missionaries to cross the sea to preach and portray Christ to the nations. 

And so, let us (we must!) pray for God's kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, in Christ, and through the church.

THIS is how God's Name is hallowed.

Thankfully, the Father and Son have poured out the Spirit of mission to equip and empower the church to accomplish her mission (see John 14-16; Acts; cf. Jesus' own baptism of the Spirit before embarking on His mission).

In Christ, and for His glory through His church,
pastor ryan

Here is a list of "local missionaries" to pray for:

1. A greater burden in our church to reach our families, co-workers, neighbors, and friends with the gospel.

2. A greater desire (and even creativity) to 'get out' and 'give out' the gospel to those who have never heard it, even in our city.

3. Pray that we may work together with other evangelical churches to reach Lethbridge for Christ.

4. Pray that God would give us as a church a great burden to give more generously and pray more fervently for the gospel to spread to the ends of the earth.

Here is a but a sampling of foreign missionaries to pray for tonight:

1. Vijay in India (Reach All Nations)

2. Caleb in Papua New Guinea

3. Nate and Sheila in Belize

4. Desta in Ethiopia (AIPM)

5. Andrea in Nicaragua (ABWE)

6. Donavan Epp in the northern Philippines (Ethnos)

7. Rod and Enonie in the Philippines

8. Trevor and Theresa in Indonesia

9. Anyone else you know or can think of (e.g. Heart Cry, SBC, etc.)





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